Amicitia
by darkcherry
Summary: (FINISHED) [AU] Hitomi lives at home with an abusive mother, but sometimes she has to get away. It just so happens, Van is her escape. R&R!
1. One

(A/N: Hey, taking a small break from **The Only Way Out** to start this story. Thus, **Amicitia** is born! Rated R for abuse, romance, and foul language. It's set on Earth and I'm sorry to inform you that there won't be any fighting Esca-style. And never forget: _I don't own Escaflowne or anything to do with it._)

Hitomi walked out of her room, towelling her hair. She could hear her mother yelling downstairs. She assumed she was fighting with her father. Recently they had gotten a divorce and Hitomi's mother always seemed to be angry. Sticking her head into Mamoru's room, she discovered he wasn't sleeping. She had put him to bed over an hour ago and couldn't think of where he'd be. Stepping lightly down the stairs, Hitomi could make out some of her mother's words.

"You're a mistake! How could I have raised such a stupid child?!"

Realizing that her father wasn't there and her mother was yelling at Mamoru, she began to run down the stairs. Just as her mother came into view, Hitomi saw her slap her brother across the face. Stepping in front of him to block him from her mother, she bent down to his level.

"I only wanted a glass of water," he whispered as Hitomi wiped tears off his face.

"It's okay, baby. Go upstairs and don't come down again, no matter what you hear. I just want to talk to Mommy for a little bit. I'll be up soon with a glass of water for you."

Nodding, Mamoru started up the stairs. Hitomi turned to her mother, seething. She had been the one to take care of Mamoru since their parents had started fighting and she wasn't going to stand by and watch as he was abused by their mother.

"Don't," she hissed, "you ever touch him again."

"Stay out of it, stupid girl," was the reply.

Hitomi braced herself as she saw her mother raise her hand for the second time that night. When it connected with her face she stumbled but did not fall.

* * *

Half an hour later, Hitomi walked gingerly up the stairs. Again, she checked Mamoru's room and was happy to see he was sleeping. Making her way into her own room, she closed and locked the door. For a second, Hitomi only stood there. Then she made her way to her open window and climbed out. A tree right outside had always been her way to get in and out without being seen.

Walking silently, she stopped outside a house with a ladder on the side. Hitomi climbed the ladder and walked carefully across the sloping roof. She knocked quietly on a window. There was no reply so she knocked quietly again.

The window opened to reveal a tousled haired, shirtless, tired looking Van. Her best friend. The one she could tell anything.

"Hey Hitomi," he said, yawning,. "What's up?"

Without a word, Hitomi climbed in his window and sat down on a chair. He sat beside her and only then seemed to realize the cuts and bruises on her face.

"What happened?" Van asked, brushing a finger gently over a bruise on Hitomi's cheek. "Did he do this to you again?"

"Huh?" she asked, completely baffled. "He? He's never hit me."

"Hitomi, don't lie to me. I've seen the bruises and cuts you've had since this divorce shit started."

"He's never hit me," Hitomi repeated and Van opened his mouth to protest. "It's her. For the first time ever, she hit Mamoru. I stopped her and she got angry. Even angrier than normal."

Van's face took on a shocked look. He reached out and pulled Hitomi close to him. She buried her face in his bare shoulder and he squeezed her gently. She flinched and gasped against her will.

"Hitomi. Stand up."

Without saying anything, Hitomi stood up and Van walked around her till her back was facing him. Gently he lifted the back of her shirt. Underneath, on her lower back, was a bruise the size of both of his hands. He lifted her shirt up to reveal her whole back and was relieved when he didn't see any more injuries.

"Any others you want to tell me about?" he asked her, turning her to face him.

Hitomi shrugged then shook her head. Van sat her down away and left the room. Half a minute later he returned from the hall with a wet cloth. 

"Tell me everything that happened," he murmured as he started to dab at the cut on her face.

"I told you, she hit Mamoru and I stopped her."

"And what," Van asked, "you fell down the stairs?"

Suppressing a smile, Hitomi said, "Then she hit me too. She started yelling and swearing and telling me how much she hated me. When I didn't say anything it seemed to make her angrier because she pushed me. Into… into a table." Hitomi reached up and touched the small cut she had on her forehead. Van grabbed her fingers and held her hand gently. "Then, she kicked me," Hitomi gestured to the bruise on her back, "over and over again. I went upstairs to check on Mamoru after it was over. And then I came here."

"I take it you want to stay here tonight, hey?"

Hitomi nodded and Van stood up and went to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of boxers and tossed them to her. She caught them and was about the undo her pants when she looked up at Van.

"Van! Turn around!"

Laughing slightly he said, "Calm down, you know I don't think of you like that. Otherwise I'd end up trying to rape you in the middle of the night."

"You're so gross," she said as she pulled off her pants and put on Van's boxers. She took off her bra and dropped it on the floor along with her pants.

"Six o'clock, as usual?" Van asked her as he set his alarm.

"Yup, I have to be home so Mom doesn't know I've been gone all night."

Van climbed into his bed as Hitomi looked at her reflection in the mirror. The bruise was a nasty looking purple but the cut looked like it might heal fairly quickly. She climbed into the bed with Van and as she expected, he immediately reached out and wrapped his arms around her so her back was facing him. 

"Thanks Van," she whispered as she gently touched the bruise on her face.

"No problem, 'Tomi. It's what I'm here for."

* * *

The next day at school, Hitomi was incredibly tired. She had done her makeup so the bruise was almost invisible. She could say her cat had scratched her face or something to get people off her back. As she opened her locker, she checked her reflection again in her small mirror.

"HITOMI!" someone yelled in her ear and she jumped.

"AH! Dilly! Don't do that!"

"You know you like it," Dilandau said smoothly and grinned cheekily at her. 

Merle, Allen, Millerna, and Dryden came up behind him and Hitomi automatically smiled. This was their group. They were missing Van but he was late almost everyday so it wasn't a surprise he wasn't there yet.

Millerna blew a bubble with her gum and Merle automatically reached out to pop it with her sharp nails. Dryden had his arm protectively around Millerna as if to tell every guy in the school to "stay away from his girl." Hitomi knew Allen had liked Millerna for a long time and she gave him as sympathetic pat on the arm as Merle screeched and went running off down the hall, pink hair flying.

"VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! I haven't seen you since Friday, where have you been?" 

"Around, Merle," he said as he messed up her hair and she struggled to fix it. "Do I have to report to you wherever I go?"

Merle looked at him mock astonishment. "You didn't know that? I thought I made it clear you had to tell me EVERYTHING. Naw, I was just wondering, we went to see a movie. _Attack of the Killer Slugs IV_. I thought you would've liked it."

Laughing, Van and Merle approached the rest of them. Hitomi saw Van's quick glance at her cheek and she immediately turned her face to the ground.

"So Van, who's the skank of the week?" Allen asked.

"What're you talking about, man?" enquired Van, coolly as he shoved his backpack into Hitomi's locker.

"C'mon Van, don't tell me you haven't found some blonde hooker to take place of the last one," Dryden said.

"Who, Ashleigh?"

Millerna laughed. "No Van! Ashleigh was before Kelly. Kelly was your last girlfriend who lasted a week and three days."

After thinking for a while, a huge smile broke out onto Van's face. "Oh yeah!" he said. "I forgot about Kelly!"

Hitomi slapped Van lightly on the arm as the bell rang and they all headed their separate ways. He grinned at her then seemed to remember her bruises and immediately stopped smiling.

"I know what you're going to ask. I'm fine, don't worry about it," she said, before he had a chance to speak.

"How'd you know what I was gonna say?" he asked.

"Van, we've been best friends for years, I think I know you well enough to be able to predict what you're going to say every once and a while. Did you finish our homework for Mrs. Walker?" she questioned, changing the subject.

"Do I ever?"

"You're such a slacker, did you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love me for it, Hitomi," he said and slung an arm around her shoulders. They walked into the science room together, Van's arm still encircling Hitomi.

(A/N: Holy Shamoly! That was a beastly chapter! Aw, I love them! They're soooooo cute! And Dilly! What a great dude! They're so psycho, I love them all. Anywho, I might have gotten Hitomi's brother's name wrong so just say the word if I have. REVIEW PEOPLE!)


	2. Two

"Do you think people would look down on me if I went out with a grade nine?" Van asked at lunch time.

"Van," Millerna said, "you're seventeen, and a senior, don't you think that would look a little odd?"

"I dunno," Dilandau commented as he reached over and grabbed a half of Hitomi's sandwich. He brushed some of his white-blonde hair off his face and took a bite. "It depends on which Minor Niner, I guess… Thanks 'Tomi," he added.

"What about her?" Allen asked as a girl with bright red hair went walking by. "She's pretty hot for a grade nine. Anyone know who she is?"

"Yeah, her name's Yukari," Merle said. "She was held back a grade so she's supposed to be in grade ten. She lives half a block down from me so I see her all the time."

"Merle," Van looked completely serious, "I'm in love with you, can I come live at your house?"

She scoffed at him. "No. You just want a piece you asshole."

Dryden detached his lips from Millerna long enough to say, "So?" She gave him a playful shove and he grabbed her and started to tickle her.

"You'd look like a cradle robber, why don't you go out with someone our age?" Hitomi asked.

"Hitomi," Dilandau said, putting his arm around her and stealing the rest of her sandwich. "Which girl our age, hasn't Van gone out with?"

"Hey!" Van said loudly. "I haven't gone out with these three beautiful ladies." 

Merle flipped him off and Hitomi just rolled her eyes. Millerna and Dryden were so busy making out that they hadn't even heard the rest of the conversation, which was lucky because if they had, Dryden would have punched Van in the face.

"So Merle," Van smoothly said, "what did you say to me earlier about _Attack of the Killer Slugs IV_? Why don't we go see that?" He grabbed her around the waist and she slugged him in the stomach. "Aw, c'mon, Merle, I was just joking! See, Hitomi lets me do it!" He wrapped his arms around her, careful to avoid her bruised back. He grinned at her childishly and she smiled sarcastically back. 

"Hey, dude! Back off, Hitomi's mine! She gives me all her food, clearly she loves me more!"

"Fuck off Dilandau, she loves me more!"

"You guys!" Hitomi held up her hands. "I love you both equally. See?" She gave them each a kiss on the cheek and Dilandau happily went back to munching Hitomi's food.

Van hugged Hitomi and behind her back he poked Dilandau. He turned to look at Van. "Dude, she loves me more."

"Okay, that's it!" Dilandau threw his bottle of Coke at Van, who cowered behind Hitomi. She shrieked and stood up, covered in Coke.

"DILLY! This is a new shirt! Urgh, you're impossible! VAN! You knew he was going to throw that at you! Why did you hide behind me?! You know what? I love Allen more than BOTH of you." She paused. "PUT TOGETHER! This is what you get!" Hitomi picked up a bowl of pudding Merle had bought and shoved it Dilandau's face. Then she took a carton of milk and dumped it on Van's head.

"What the HELL?" Merle screamed as she watched both her milk and pudding land on the offending boys. "Hitomi!" Merle threw an apple at Hitomi, who caught it and threw it back. Merle caught it, looked at Drydan and Millerna, and threw it at Dryden's head.

"Ah, dude! That hurt!" Merle pointed at Hitomi. Dryden picked up Millerna's gum she had stuck on some paper and threw it towards Hitomi. She ducked and it hit Allen in the back of the head.

"Shit! That's gum, man!"

Van looked at Hitomi and picked up a bottle of ketchup. Her green eyes widened to huge proportions. She shook her head at him but it was no use. Soon Hitomi and almost everyone else in the area was covered in ketchup. Dilandau let out a yell and tackled Merle. He pinned her and dumped salad, complete with dressing, down her shirt.

"Oh, you bastard!" Millerna said as Allen shoved her face into a plate of macaroni. 

Van grabbed Dryden's arms and held him while Hitomi sprayed the remaining ketchup all over his face and glasses. He brought his foot up backwards and kicked Van in the shin. 

"Ow, you son of a bit -"

"**WHAT** IS GOING ON HERE?"

Hitomi turned around to see her and Van's science teacher, Mrs. Walker, standing there watching the food fight going on between the seven of them. Van came up behind her and put a hand on her hip. She could feel his suppressed laughter. Dilandau burst out laughing and soon the cafeteria was full of the sound of their laughter.

"Detention for all of you," Mrs. Walker said sternly. "NOW!"

They marched out of the cafeteria in a line. When they got to the library, which was used for detention, they all sat down. Yukari was already there. She was flicking a lighter open and closed over and over again. 

Almost immediately, Van slid his chair a little closer to her and said, "Hey, what're you in for?"

"The teacher, like, caught me smoking," she said simply. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, my God, you 

totally smell like milk."

Dilandau and Hitomi burst out laughing when they heard that. Van gave them a dirty look and then said, "Yeah, we're in here for throwing food around in the caf. I had milk dumped on my head."

"You deserved it!" Hitomi said in a sing-song voice.

"So, 'Tomi," Dilandau whispered to her, "what're you doing this Friday?"

"Not much, Dilly. Why?"

"Uh, you wanna come over to my house? We could hang out. Watch a movie or whatever."

"Sounds great, who'd be there?" She tapped her nails on Dilandau's wrist gently.

Dilandau looked down at their hands so close together. He flipped his arm around and grabbed Hitomi's hand. Swallowing he said, "Uh… I dunno. You… me."

She watched him play with her fingers tenderly until his words finally seemed to sink in. "Dilandau!" she cried, a little too loudly. Hitomi lowered her voice. "Dilly, are you asking me out?"

Coughing, he nodded. "But I understand if you'd, y'know, wanna stay friends or whatever."

Hitomi put her hand on the side of Dilandau's face. Looking over at Van and Yukari, who were now have a heavy make out session, she said, "I'll come, but I don't want to promise you anything. I'm sorry Dilly…"

"Hey, it's okay, man. I'll live. It's cool if you like someone else or something."

"It's not that. You know my parents are getting a divorce, hey? Well, I've been having a rough time with that stuff so…"

Dilandau put an arm around Hitomi and pulled her closer to him. He gave her a hug and said, "Yeah, I get it. The rough times will pass. They always do."

__

Yeah, Hitomi thought, watching Merle and Allen pass a ball of paper back an forth, _but you have no idea how rough it actually is._

* * *

On Wednesday morning, Hitomi was at her locker, getting her science books out and waiting for Van to appear when Yukari approached her.

"Like, hi Hitomi!" she said brightly, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"Er, hi Yukari."

"So… I was like, just wondering if Van is like, totally good in bed?"

Hitomi dropped her books on the floor and yelled, "WHAT?"

"I said, is Van like, totally good in bed?" Yukari twisted her hair around one finger and chomped on her gum.

"Why are you asking me?" asked Hitomi.

Yukari laughed. Hitomi almost had to cover her ears to keep from cringing at the sound. "Because, like, I found this like, bra in his room and when I asked who's it was and he was all like, 'Oh, that's like, just Hitomi's.'"

"Oh. We've never had sex," Hitomi said. "That was there because I slept there last weekend."

Yukari's face hardened when she heard that. "Well, I like, totally don't know what was like, between you guys but whatever it was is like, totally over, okay? He's with me now, you like, got that?"

"Uh," answered Hitomi, "yeah, I 'like', got that."

"Okay, like, see ya later, Hitomi!"

And with that Yukari stalked off, high heels pounding on the ground and short skirt swaying back and forth. Just as Hitomi was going to give up and head to class, Van decided to make an appearance. He shoved his bag into her locker, as usual, but didn't seem to notice she wasn't talking.

"Yukari came over last night," Van commented to no one in particular.

Hitomi made an indistinct noise in her throat. "How long's this one going to last, Van?" she asked with uncharacteristic bitterness.

Van looked up when he heard her tone of voice. "Something wrong, 'Tomi?"

"Oh, no. Everything's great. Perfect. Fucking peachy."

Van watched her, puzzled as she walked to class scowling. He wondered why she was so mad. Little did he know that Hitomi was wondering the exact same thing. It's not like Van had never had a girlfriend before. And it's not like they hadn't told her to back off either. What was it about this one that rubbed her the total wrong way?

(A/N: Dun dun dun! *SCARY MUSIC* Hummm… what's gonna happen? In a chapter soon-to-come: an appearance by Melanie, the co-author of **Pain and Sorrow**! Hope you like it so far! Review it, PLEASE!)


	3. Three

It was Friday after school and Hitomi was upstairs playing soldiers with Mamoru. Their mother wasn't home yet but Hitomi wouldn't let her brother go down the stairs before she had - and her mother had taken all the anger out on her.

Finally, she heard a door slam and a loud yell. Telling Mamoru to stay upstairs, she walked down the stairs until she was three from the bottom.

"Mom?" Hitomi called. "Are you alright?"

There was another loud yell and Hitomi's mother came storming into the room. She looked at her daughter, almost as if she couldn't believe that she had shown concern. "I lost my job." There was anger in her voice but Hitomi didn't sense that her mother was mad enough to start hitting her.

"It's okay, Mom. You'll find another one. I'll get one to help if you need me to."

"NO!" her mother screamed. "IT'S NOT OKAY! I will be dead before I see _you_ supporting us! It's my job!"

Hitomi twisted some hair around her finger. "Maybe that job just wasn't right for you. You need to find something better." But that was the wrong thing to say.

Her mother, who was angry before and now was livid, reached up and grabbed Hitomi's left wrist. She twisted and pulled until Hitomi was standing right in front of her, almost at eye level. "If you ever tell me I am incapable of providing for my own family ever again, there will be dire consequences, Hitomi."

About to protest that she had never said that, Hitomi stopped herself. What could she say to actually improve the situation? Nothing. She looked at the floor until her mother gave her a push towards the stairs. Climbing, she inspected the damage to her arm. The grip on it had been surprisingly strong and Hitomi could see a white hand print on it still. No doubt it would bruise by morning. Twisting it gently, she found that it was sore, but definitely not broken. Once she had entered her room, Hitomi picked up the phone and dialled Dilandau's number.

"Hi Dilly."

"Hey Hitomi, what's going on? We still up for a movie tonight?"

"I don't know if I can. See, I fell off my trampoline today," Hitomi looked out her window at the trampoline that was completely innocent, "and I hurt my wrist, so I'm thinking about going to get it checked out with a doctor. Is that alright? I could still come if you wanted."

"What? No, 'Tomi! Get your wrist checked, there'll be other times for us to watch movies and stuff. Call me tomorrow and tell me how it went, okay?"

"Yeah, 'course Dilly."

"Later babe."

"Bye."

With that done, Hitomi sat down and decided to start on an essay about 'Why You Should Not Waste Food' for Mrs. Walker. Knowing Van would probably just copy hers, she didn't bother to hide it when it was finished. Pulling out her math book, there was a clang outside her window. Van's black hair appeared in her window seconds later. His brown eyes came into view and he grinned at her.

"You shouldn't leave your window open," he joked. "Who knows what kind of whackos could come in." He reached out and messed her hair up. Smoothing it, she smiled. Then her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi Hitomi!" It was Millerna. She sounded like she was on her cell phone some place loud.

"Hey, how are ya?"

"Great! Dryden, get lost! Anyway Hitomi, we're at the bowling alley. Wanna join us? Is Van there?"

"Yeah, he's here. Just a sec, Millerna." Hitomi covered the phone. "You wanna go to the bowling alley? They're hanging out there." But Van was eying her wrist seriously.

"Tell her you can't. We need to talk Hitomi." Van's dark eyes looked dangerously at her.

"Hello? Oh, hey Merle. What happened to Millerna?"

Merle's voice was on the line now. "Dryden attacked her. Anyways, Allen's here and Dilly's on his way. He said something about you having to go to the doctor's so you couldn't go to his house and chill or whatever. What happened to your arm?"

"Oh, I fell off my trampoline." Hitomi's voice wavered. Van looked at her seriously. "Yeah, Van's just gonna take me to the doctor," she put her finger to her lips to signal that he should be quiet. "You want us to call when we're back?"

"Only if you want to. Talk to you later!"

Hitomi heard Millerna scream "BYE!" before Merle hung up. She turned to face her best friend. He stared at her until she started to wring her hands - which hurt - so she stopped quickly.

"You fell off your trampoline?" asked Van, incredulously. "I'm taking you to the doctor?"

"Er - no. I'm not going to go to the doctor."

Van took a step closer. "Because you didn't fall off your trampoline, did you? Hitomi, why didn't you come to me? You said you would if anything happened."

"I thought maybe you'd be busy. Y'know, with Yukari." Looking at the ground, Hitomi scuffed a foot on the rug. Van took her face in his hands and tilted it until she was looking at him.

"The day when Yukari - or any other girl - is more important than you, that's when you don't have to come to tell me. But I can't see that happening for a very long time." Hitomi flung her arms around his neck and he hugged her tightly as he breathed in her light scent of vanilla. "Anyways, I ditched Yukari tonight, she was pissing me off."

"How so?"

"Calling all the time." He put on a high pitched voice. "'Van, Oh, my God! Like, where are you? Do you wanna come over, my parents are totally out for the night!' Ugh, I think I'm going insane! I told her that my grandpa died and I had to go to the funeral."

* * *

Hitomi was laying on her bed with her head hanging over the end. On the floor, Van was rolling around to amuse himself.

"And then," Hitomi said, waving her arms in the air, "she asked me if you were good in bed! I dropped my books and almost fainted!"

Van stopped rolling for long enough to look at Hitomi. "You've never had sex have you?"

"WHAT?!" Hitomi fell off the bed. "Ow, that hurt!" she whined as she rubbed her head. "Van that's none of your business!" She was quiet for a second then said, "Have you?"

Crawling over to his best friend, he said, "None of your business," and poked Hitomi in stomach. "You haven't! I can tell by the way you're blushing! Little Hitomi… Don't worry. Soon enough you'll find a guy that wants to get in your pants."

She slapped him. "Oh, and you have? You talk like you're all experienced." Van didn't say anything. "OH, MY GOD! You have, haven't you?! How many times? With who? Was it Kelly? Melanie?"

He laughed. "Only once! I'm not some player! There was this one time with Ashleigh. No… wait. Two if you count Tiffany. Oh yeah, and Megan. And… what was her name? Uh, Linda? Larissa? Lindsay! And once with Lindsay!"

Hitomi covered her face with her hands. "That is so gross. So now what, you're out to have sex with Yukari? Then what? Grade sevens?" Van made a hurt face. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to sleep in the same bed as you ever again, Van Fanel! Every time I do I'll think of that and be all grossed out."

"I haven't changed the last time you slept with me! You weren't grossed out then."

"True. But I didn't know you were a complete hooker then! I only thought you were a tease," she moaned. When she uncovered her face, she saw Van looking straight at her, smiling.

"Do you remember your first kiss?" he asked.

"Of course!" snorted Hitomi. "It was you. We were eight. You had just moved into the neighbourhood and I had come over to play. You asked if I had a boyfriend and I told you boys were 'icky', do you remember that?"

"Yeah," Van said, closing his eyes. "Then I asked if you wanted to be mine. I guess I lied when I said you, Millerna and Merle were the only girls I hadn't dated. We dated when we were eight."

"It was only for a day! When you kissed me I was so grossed out I decided I didn't ever want a boyfriend and I would never kiss anyone again. I think that's why we've always just been friends. Because you're such a bad kisser!" 

Hitomi smacked him in the face with a pillow. Shrieking, she hopped up onto her bed before Van could retaliate. His hair was all messed up and he was grinning dangerously when he sat up. He grabbed Hitomi's ankle and pulled her slowly towards him while she clutched at the bed. 

"Ow!" she screamed suddenly.

"What happened? Did I hurt you?"

Hitomi sat cross-legged on the ground cradling her wrist. "No, there was just a lot of pressure on my arm." It had turned a nasty red-purple colour and it covered a good two inches of her arm all the way around.

"I'm sorry," Van whispered. Hitomi waved her hand at him as if to say, 'It's not your fault.'

She climbed silently up onto her bed and lay down. Van stood and looked down at her. He went and turned off her light and came to lie with her. Immediately, she buried her face in his chest and he could feel her small body shaking with sobs. He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead before he encircled her waist with his arms. 

(A/N: I have nothing to say but REVIEW!!! Oh, and I have a song for this whole fic. It's called **So Close** by **Evanescence**:

I've spent so much time throwing rocks at your window  
That I never even knocked on the front door  
  
I walked by statues, never even made one chip  
But if I could leave a mark on the monument of the heart  
I just might lay myself down for a little more than I had the last day  
  
Wait a time to spare these lies we tell ourselves  
These days have come and gone  
But this time is sweeter than honey


	4. Four

Opening her eyes, Hitomi saw light streaming in her window. Her and Van were entangled on her bed. One of her legs was up high enough that he had a hand on the back of her thigh and the other on her lower back. Her face was buried in his chest and her arms folded in between them.

Not wanting to wake him, she stayed still and looked at him. His brown eyes were closed and he had locks of his dark hair falling onto his face. Hitomi brushed some of it away with a hand. Van stretched and pulled her in a little closer. Smiling to herself, she nestled her face into the crook of his neck.

There was a huge bang as the door to her room flew open. Hitomi sat up quickly, causing Van to wake up. He stretched himself out and struggled to sit. Rubbing his eyes, he looked towards the door. Hitomi's mother was standing there with an angry expression on her face.

"Van," she said sweetly, "would you mind going home, I got a call from your mother and I have to speak with Hitomi."

Van stood, stretching still, not wanting to leave. He knew what Hitomi's mom meant by needing to "speak" with her. Taking a step toward the window, he saw Hitomi shake her head.

"Use the front door!" she mouthed. Nodding almost inconspicuously, he left the room with a glance at Hitomi.

"What was he doing here?" Hitomi's mother's voice had lost all it's sweetness.

"We were hanging out and we fell asleep."

"That's not true. I know you're having sex you little wench. I hope you get pregnant! You won't get any help from me to raise your bastard-child. And that boy! He won't help you. You can raise it on your own! See what it's like you dirty slut."

Hitomi hung her head. "Mom, we weren't having sex."

Her mother took a step towards her and as the blows rained down on her, Hitomi did nothing to stop them. After nearly fifteen minutes of this, her mother seemed to tire and finally left the room. Left on the floor, bruised and crying, she didn't think she could have moved if she'd wanted to.

Finally there was a noise from the outside the window and Van hopped in saying, "Hey, I just came back to - Hitomi, are you alright?"

He ran over to her and helped her into a sitting position. Gently he ran a hand over all her limbs, checking for broken bones. Finding none, he wiped tears from her face and smoothed her hair.

"Help me," she cried.

"I'm here Hitomi, don't worry. I'm going to help you," he said.

She clutched his arms and Van brought her in close. "Help me. Please help me, Van." 

"How can I help you Hitomi?" he asked. "Tell me what I need to do."

"Help me," she pleaded.

"How?" Van asked again.

"Kill me."

* * *

It was Monday and Van, Hitomi and Merle were walking down the hallway between second- and third-period. Van had an arm slung around Merle's shoulder and Hitomi caught the looks Merle was giving Van. If Hitomi didn't know Van so well she would have said they should go out. But she knew all that would happen is they would break up and the great friendship that they had would disappear.

"Anyways Merle, me and 'Tomi should go. We gotta get to class. Have fun with your spare. If we decide to cut class, we'll find you at your locker before the bell goes, okay?" With that said, Van grabbed Hitomi's hand and pulled her off in the direction of their classes. Hitomi waved over her shoulder as she let herself be pulled along.

Merle wandered off to her locker, knowing either Van, Hitomi, or both would be there soon. Van could never resist skipping class if someone had a spare. She was opening her lock when there was a tug on her short, pink hair and her head jerked back. Turning, her eyes settled on an extremely angry looking short girl with brown hair and hazel eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a complicated way and curls and waves fell from the back of her head.

"You whore!!!" she screamed. "Van is mine!"

"What are you talking about?" Merle asked and ducked as the girl, who clearly didn't know how to fight, swung at her. "Van isn't anyone's!"

The girl made a frustrated noise and swung at Merle again. She caught her arm and then realized who the girl was. Melanie. Van's ex-girlfriend who came before Yukari, Kathleen, and Tiffany. So they had dated almost a month ago. The relationship had lasted all of about four days.

While all this was rushing through Merle's head, Melanie took advantage of Merle's detachment and punched her in the stomach hard enough to get her attention. Just as Merle had started to go psycho on Melanie's ass, Van walked into view. 

"Vanny, help me!" Melanie called.

A quizzical look flashed across Van's face until he reached down and picked Merle up off Melanie, who had clearly got the worst of the fight. She shoved Merle out of the way and flung herself on Van who tried to back out of the embrace. Her lip was swollen and her hair was in disarray. She flailed her arms and wailed in a child-like way.

"Van! She attacked me! She said that - that you were HERS! No matter how many times I told her we were together, she wouldn't listen to me! It was horrrible!"

Van held back his laughter as the hysterical girl in front of him started to howl and wave her arms like a windmill. He grabbed her shoulders and looked into Melanie's eyes. 

"We're not together, Melanie. It was over a long time ago. You have to move on. Find some nice guy that you like. It's been over for almost a month." Van patted her shoulder and turned to walk away.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" There was a commotion as Melanie ran away with her hair flapping all over the place and her high shoes smacking the floor.

"Well that was harsh. But she's a wuss anyways," Merle muttered as she smoothed her hair. This time Van couldn't contain his laughter and they walked off laughing, Merle telling him the whole story from her perspective. "Poor girl, actually thought she had a chance with you. You're such a player, you know that Van?"

A lopsided grin crossed his face and he seemed to drift off for a second. "Yeah. But if I found the right girl, that would change. You know that, hey?"

"And who is the right girl?" Merle asked, staring intently at his face and not daring to let herself dream. "Have you found her yet?"

"If I had found her, would I still be fooling around with Yukari and all the other girls in this school? Naw, she's still hiding." He shrugged then, feeling uncomfortable with the subject. "What about you? Found that guy of your dreams?"

Merle gulped and let out a barely perceptible, "No." 

"It's okay, you'll find him eventually," Van said with characteristic male blindness. Merle let out a sigh and Van grabbed her in a crushing half hug. "C'mon, let's go to the mall."

(A/N: Yay, just got back from camp and MMM MMM! Hot guys galore! This was a kinda short chapter ubt I didn't wanna add in stuff that I need to have in the next chapters like Van/Hitomi fluffer fluff. *Waves Fluff Flag* Haha, yes, I know you want me to rush into all the fluff but it won't come for another chapter or two. Wait for it! I said wait, dammit! Good job! Anywho, for those of you who want me to update quickly, REVIEW! I always write better after I read some nice things! And you guys have been the BEST of the BEST! I have to say it!)


	5. Five

Hitomi crawled onto Van's roof slowly and cautiously. She almost fell and jarred herself badly. Letting out a moan of pain, she kept crawling. She was about to open the window, when Van opened it from the inside. Watching her intently, he grabbed her arm and helped her in so she didn't fall. Once inside Van's room, she paused and wavered on her feet. The stars outside the window moved back and forth and Hitomi closed her eyes and tried to steady herself.

"Hitomi?" Van asked as he put his hands on her shoulders to brace her. "Are you alright?"

She didn't even pretend with him this time. Shaking her head, Hitomi walked waveringly towards Van's bed. He followed her, keeping one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist to keep her steady. She patted his hand absently and turned around and smiled detachedly at him. It scared him when he noticed her eyes were unfocused. 

"Mom," she whispered before her knees buckled and she fell into his arms. 

Looking at her face, Van realized she had lost consciousness. Something bad had happened to her. He searched her, looking for new bruises or cuts. There was a huge bruise on her left shoulder, almost as if something heavy had been thrown or dropped on it. When he lifted her head of his shoulder, there was something sticky on it. His shirt had a dark red stain on it. It took Van a second to realize that it was blood. From Hitomi's head. 

"Holy shit, what happened to you Hitomi?" he said softly, half to himself, half to her. 

She was wearing the tank top she had worn to school today but had changed into pyjama bottoms. Relieved her wouldn't have to change her clothes, he set her on his bed, totally oblivious that she was bleeding onto his pillowcase.

Van left the room to get some towels and other things he would need to help Hitomi. When he came back, she was still unconscious and bleeding. Setting towels under her head, Van decided he should do another check to make sure there were no other marks on her.

On one of her arms he found several small cuts that looked several days old. He didn't remember her mentioning anything about it and decided to ask her when she woke up. As he sat on the floor beside her he noticed that she looked unwell. All the abuse her mother was heaping on her was starting to take it's toll. There were dark circles under her bright eyes and she looked too skinny; unhealthily skinny, Van thought.

He brushed his fingers across her hand lightly and looked at his clock. It was after twelve and he had to go to school tomorrow. Van climbed onto the other side of the bed and took Hitomi's hand. 

"Oh, God. Please be all right."

* * *

Van walked into his room, dropped his backpack on the floor and froze when he saw Hitomi sitting up in his bed, staring at the wall. He had left her there that morning with a note telling her he was at school and would cover for her and to call Millerna's cell and talk to one of them if she needed anything

"'Tomi?" he asked.

She kept staring straight ahead, not moving or even acknowledging that he had entered the room. Her right hand kept moving on her left arm and as he moved forward, Van could see she was running a finger up and down the mysterious cuts on her arm.

"How're you feeling? Do you need anything?" It was starting to scare him how she wasn't talking. He bent down beside her and looked at her worriedly. Finally, she turned her head and looked at him. Without a word or any sign, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close so he was sitting on the bed beside her. He pulled away a bit and rested his forehead against hers.

"You're really scared me. What happened to you last night?"

Still saying nothing, Hitomi pulled him back into a hug and this time kissed his cheek. Now thinking that the blow to her head had affected her brain, Van held Hitomi's face in his hands and stared into her eyes.

"Hi - to - mi. Are - you - oh - kay?"

She nodded and Van let out a breath of relief. This time he pulled her into a hug and she traced random patterns on his back.

"Thanks Van."

"That's the first thing you've said to me in over twelve hours," he said and smiled. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

Hitomi hesitated then said, "Mom was angry."

Van pushed her back to look at her face. "Angry? So she gets to do this to you whenever she's angry? Is that your excuse?" 

His eyes were smouldering and dark. Hitomi backed away a bit, scared of the look he had. He put his face in his hands, sighed, and ran them through his hair. Reaching out for her arm, Van saw her jaw clench for a second and looked down to see his hand resting on the cuts on her arm. Hitomi's eyes were wider than he had ever seen them as she detached herself from his grasp. She got up off the bed and went across the room to look out the window. Then Van put two and two together. He followed her over to the window and turned to her.

"Don't Hitomi. Promise me you won't anymore."

"I promise Van," she said as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and set his chin on her head.

* * *

"Hi, mom?"

"Hitomi, where are you? I haven't seen you for the last couple days."

"I know mom, I'm sorry. There's a big test coming the day after tomorrow and I've been leaving early for school everyday to study. I'm at Van's right now, we're still studying." Van gave Hitomi two thumbs up and she grinned back.

"Okay, well, when will I see you at home again? You could come here and study you know."

"But Mamoru's there, mom. He's noisy and he'll disrupt us. I won't have to leave so early for school on Friday. I'll be at home that morning. See you, mom!"

"Listen to me Hitomi. Don't stay up too late, it's just a test."

"Yeah. I have my key so you can lock the door."

"Bye sweetie. Love you."

Hitomi hung up the phone and said, "Mission accomplished." She was still thrown by her mother having said she loved her. Did she feel guilty for doing more damage on Hitomi than ever before? A blow to the head wasn't something accidental. 

"Okay," Van said. "Now all I have to do is convince your teachers you're sick for another two days. Do you think you'll be okay to go to school on Friday? You can stay here until that night, but then I have to go to see my Auntie for a couple days."

"I can go, I feel better already, just a little tired." Hitomi yawned and laid down on Van's bed. He laid down beside her and she rested her head on his stomach. "Do you have to go to your Auntie's?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll be back Sunday night. She's sick and my mom wants to go see her."

* * *

The next door days passed in a blur for Van, trying to cover for Hitomi. For her, they seemed to inch by. There was nothing to do in Van's room by herself. Sometimes she amused herself by snooping through his drawers, but when she found condoms in one, she stopped looking.

"Ew, I am so scarred," she muttered and decided to try and sleep instead. 

When Van entered his room after school, she was sleeping peacefully and he went over and brushed some of her light brown hair off her forehead and she stirred. He dropped all of the books he had brought home and slumped down in his desk chair.

"Rough day at the office?" said the voice from his bed.

"Yeah. You got to stay here and sleep all day. How about you pretend I'm sick tomorrow?" Van yawned and stretched.

"Listen very carefully, Van…" Hitomi paused. "NO!"

Van mumbled something and wandered over the bed. He fell onto it and closed his eyes. Hitomi smiled at this and moved closed to him.

"Van?" she whispered. "I'm going to go home. Thank you so much. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" There was another mumble from Van. Hitomi bent and kissed his temple. "Bye."

* * *

It was Friday after school and Dryden, Allen, Merle, Dilandau, Millerna, Van, and Hitomi were standing out front of the school. Van's parents were supposed to be there soon so they had all gathered to say goodbye.

"Hey, Dilandau?" Van whispered.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Take care of Hitomi, okay? Keep her out of the house as much as you can. This divorce is hard on her."

"'Course, man," Dilandau said and patted Van on the back.

Satisfied Dilandau would watch over Hitomi while he was gone, he smiled at her. Then Van's parents drove up and Merle jumped on him, squealing, "Oh, Van, we'll miss you!"

"Merle," he said, loosening her hold, "I'm only gone for two days!"

Millerna stepped forward for a hug and the guys did that manly hand grip/hug thing they do. Merle started sobbing in the background and she jumped on Allen while he patter her awkwardly on the back. Hitomi grabbed Van around the neck and whispered, "I'll miss you. Hurry home."

He kissed her quickly on the lips, which wasn't uncommon for them, grabbed his backpack and ran down the stairs waving. Dilandau came up beside Hitomi and put an arm around her. She looked up at him and smiled. His arm weighed heavily on her shoulder and Hitomi was pleased when she realized it barely hurt anymore.

"C'mon, I'll give you guys a ride home," Allen said and they started towards his old Shaggin' Wagon. They loved his car because it was the only one that could fit them all inside with room to spare. When Hitomi was dropped at her house, everything was quiet and she hoped it would stay like that all weekend. If anything happened with Van away, she wasn't sure what she'd do.

(A/N: Phew! Chapter done! That was a fairly long one. Anywho, what Hitomi's mom did to her isn't really vital in the story; it might come up a bit later but it's nothing extremely important to the plot. The next chapter is kinda disheartening, BEWARE! I wanna thank all of you that have Reviewed. I've gotten so many compliments on it and I'm amazed it's flown so well so far! Thanks again! Until next time…)


	6. Six

Before Hitomi's mother came home, she was picked up by Merle in her dad's car. They were on their way to Dilandau's to hang out with the rest of the gang. When they got there, Hitomi got a hug from Dilandau but found it wasn't quite the same as one from Van. His absence was obvious as soon as they arrived because it was a lot quieter and less fighting.

They plopped down in various spots; on top, beside, and around each other. Merle was sprawled on top of Allen and they were absorbed in a deep discussion. Finally Merle said something that must have annoyed Allen because with one fluid motion he gave her a nudge and she fell off his lap onto the floor.

"Allen! That hurt!" she screamed. Then she got up and jumped back onto him and they started a playful wrestling game. They rolled on top of Millerna's foot and she half nudged, half kicked them so they went rolling the other way towards Hitomi. Allen looked up at her when they stopped near her feet. With a devilish smile he grabbed her around the legs. Wavering, Hitomi tried to keep her balance until Allen gave a little tug and she fell on top of both of them. Dilandau looked out of his movie cupboard when he heard the noise and grinned at his three friends wrestling on the floor.

"DILANDAU! What's all that racket?" a voice yelled from upstairs.

"Sorry Mom," he called back. "Hitomi just fell over." He motioned with his hands for them to stop.

Hitomi looked up at Allen who had her arms pinned about her head and was covering a thrashing Merle with his body. _How pathetic_, she thought. _Two against one, and we still lose_. Slowly sliding off Merle and letting go of Hitomi, Allen stood up with a victorious smile. Merle stook her tongue out at him and plopped herself down on Dilandau's lap and stretched out.

"So Dilly, what're we watching tonight? Something gory?"

"Ah Merle," came a voice from the tangle of legs and arms that was Millerna and Dryden. "You always like the blood and guts, don't you? You should be a warrior you know that? I heard about how you fought Melanie yesterday. Someone told me she had a black eye and bloody lip after."

Merle puffed herself up, looking proud. "Well, I am a good fighter," she said.

"Then why did both you and Hitomi just lose to Allen?" Dilandau asked her.

"I hate you." She glared at him with her pink eyes and he just laughed at her.

* * *

It was dark outside when Hitomi hopped out of Merle's car, waved, and started walking up the path to her house. The lights in her house were all off except one and she hoped her mother and Mamoru were sleeping.

Inside she found her mother sitting on the couch nursing a bottle of hard liquor. Her eyes were slightly glazed and she wavered when she got up. Hitomi took a small step back when her mother staggered towards her. Coughing lightly and waving an arm in front of her nose, Hitomi started heading for the stairs.

"Come back here girl," her mom slurred. Hitomi obliged hesitantly. "Where were ya tonight? I wanted to talk to you about something."

Hitomi asked, "What?"

After thinking for several moments, Hitomi's mother looked back at her with a smile. "I dunno. Isn't that funny how things just slip your mind like that?" She hiccupped and started laughing quietly to herself.

Thinking her mother was so drunk that she didn't know what she was talking about, Hitomi headed up the stairs to her room. She headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair before changing into her pyjamas.

She climbed out her window into the tree. When she climbed high enough she could see the stars. Watching them for a while, Hitomi started thinking about how Dilandau had seemingly taken responsibility for her with Van away. When she was leaving he had automatically asked her to go to the mall with him the next day. Anything to keep her away from the house. Realizing Van had probably put him up to it, Hitomi smiled at her best friend's antics. Climbing back inside her window and into her bed, Hitomi fell asleep quickly, not knowing what the next day would bring.

* * *

Hitomi awoke, revelling in the fact that it was a Saturday and she didn't have to get up all day if she didn't want to. Then she remembered her mother had been drunk the night before. Knowing she should go check on her, Hitomi went downstairs and brought her mother a glass of water and a couple Tylenol's. Sprawled on the couch, Hitomi's mother was drooling and clutching a mostly empty bottle of alcohol. She grabbed it and went to dump out the rest of it's contents.

Mamoru was awake and playing his favorite game on his Nintendo. Hitomi sent him upstairs to get dressed. After making him toast and taking him to a friend's, where he could stay all day, she went back home to find her mother conscious after over twelve hours. She was drinking coffee and rubbing her head, which, no doubt, hurt. 

Hitomi brought out some supplies she would need to do a project for school. She worked on it for several hours with no break until there was a mad yell from the upper level of her house. Stomping told her that her mother was coming down the stairs.

"STUPID GIRL!" her mother shrieked at her when she entered the room. Hitomi wracked her brains trying to figure out what she had done to make her mother angry this time. "STUPID GIRL!" yelled her mother again. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? You told me you had a test! A test! And I believed you! But you were out with that boy all the time, weren't you? WEREN'T YOU? You told your teachers you were sick and me that you were at school but the whole time you were out with that evil Van child!"

"I wouldn't have had to lie to you OR my teachers if you hadn't shoved me into a fucking shelf and given me a concussion!!" Hitomi yelled back. Her mother took a step away from her in shock. Then the angered look came back into her eyes again and she advanced on her daughter, hand raised.

Hitomi grabbed her wrist the first time it came toward her which seemed to shock her mother. After she realized her daughter had stood up to her for once, her anger multiplied several times and she took another swing. This time, there was nothing Hitomi could do to stop it. For several minutes this went on until Hitomi's mother stopped long enough for Hitomi to stand. Once she did, she wished she had stayed on the ground. Her mother had been eyeing the Xzacto knife she had been using for her project. Picking it up, she clicked the blade out several centimetres. Hitomi backed herself into the fridge with wide eyes as her mother advanced on her with a knife.

Hitomi's mother put a hand on Hitomi's neck and brought the knife close to her face. She moved it around for several seconds and watched as Hitomi's eyes followed it, praying to God that it wouldn't be plunged into her. 

"Don't," her mother whispered threateningly, "you ever, _ever_, lie to me again. Do you have that?" She watched Hitomi nod before she hit her so hard she fell to the floor, dropped the knife, and left the house with a slam. Hitomi lay on the ground shaking and her mind searched for something it could grasp the first thing it did was Van. 

"Van," she whispered, then realized he wasn't there. He wasn't even in the same city!

She stared at the offending knife laying on the ground a foot away. She grabbed it and hurried up to her room. Sitting on her bed, sobbing, Hitomi brought the knife to her wrist and gently scraped at the flesh. After doing that a couple times she pressed hard enough to draw blood. Watching the blood flow down her arm made everything seem so simple. Then she remembered. She had promised Van. She wouldn't do it this way. There were other ways.

Stumbling slightly to her bathroom, and grabbing a bottle of something, - she didn't even check what - Hitomi stopped to look in her mirror. She saw a pale, thin girl with a bruised face and a bleeding arm. She was that girl. That girl had become what she was because of her mother. Her own mother. The one person in the world that should love you unconditionally. And she didn't even have that anymore.

With a shaking hand Hitomi wrote a note to Van. Then she wrote one to her family. It was short and to the point.

__

Dear Dad and Mamoru,

I'd like to say this is no one's fault but it would be a lie. For the last month or so, I've been victim to Mom. After dealing with this the best way I could for so long, I feel I can't take it anymore. Tell all my friends I love them and give Van the note I wrote for him, UNREAD. Mom, I forgive you. I know you had troubles too but we could have sorted them out together. Instead, this is what happened. I'm so sorry. I love you so much.

Love, Hitomi

She placed it on her pillow on top of the one for Van. Not bothering to use water, Hitomi popped three pills into her mouth and swallowed them with ease. She didn't hear the thump outside her window as she shook more pills into her hand. Dropping some on the floor but not bothering to pick them up, she raised her hand to her mouth once more.

"Hey handsome, I got home early!" said a voice. Van's. He paused and looked at her. She had frozen and she watched as Van's eyes took in her blood on the carpet, the Xzacto knife, the pills on the floor and in her hands, and her suicide note. "Holy fuck Hitomi! What're you doing?"

He rushed over to her and gathered her into his arms. Then he pushed her away and looked into her face. He saw new bruises and a desperation in her eyes he hadn't ever seen before. Gently he pried the pills from her hands and brushed tears away from her eyes.

"'Tomi, tell me what's going on. Are you alright? How many of these did you eat?"

"Three or four… Oh, Van! You weren't here. I needed you so much and you were gone!" Hitomi flung her arms around his neck and sobbed on his shoulder while he made soothing sounds and tried to understand exactly what had happened. "I - I was so scared! She pulled the knife on me and then, then I took it and I cut my wrist and remembered what you had said about it. I had promised you not to so I took - I took the pills instead. Van, why didn't you let me die? Why did you have to come and save me now, when I was so close?"

"Hitomi! Never talk like that! It's a fucking miracle I got home on time to stop this! What were you thinking? I'm here for you, never forget it." Hitomi nodded at him and he brushed her hair away from her eyes. "I love you, okay?"

"I love you too Van."

(A/N: For all of you that wanted it, THAT WAS NOT A CONFESSION OF LOVE. Okay, it was. But not the kind you're thinking of. That was friend love. Have you ever told a friend you loved them? Well, it was like that. So, Hitomi tries to commit suicide but Van, being a hero, stops her. **BUT!** He didn't see the note she had written him! OOOOOOOOOOH! What does it say? Meh, you'll find out later. Haha, aren't I a great person! Tell me if the chapter has any mistakes etc., and as always, REVIEW!!!!)


	7. Seven

Hitomi had fought this for almost a week. Her suicide attempts had happened close to a week ago. For the first few nights, Van either slept at her house or brought her to his. Hitomi knew he wouldn't let her be alone for a while; he didn't trust her by herself yet.

It was a relief when her phone rang. It meant she could put off telling him for a while still. Picking up her phone and setting down the piece of paper, she sat on her bed.

"Hello?"

"Hey 'Tomi! What's up?"

"Dilly! Not too much, I'm just hanging around the house and stuff. Contemplating doing something with my life. How about you?"

"Ah, not too much. How're you feeling?" Van had told them that she was going through an extremely rough period in her parent's divorce and she was feeling depressed. 

Hitomi sighed. "I'm alright Dilly. Kinda tired and - and well, really tired." She had almost said sore. The bruises on her face had disappeared within the last couple days but the mark on her arm was still there and still painful.

"I just called to check on you. Call me if you need anything 'kay? It's what we're here for."

Hitomi almost wept when she heard the concern in his voice. "Thanks Dilly," she said, swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat. "I'll talk to you later alright?"

"Yeah, 'course. See ya Hitomi."

"Bye."

Hanging up the phone, Hitomi wiped her hands on her pants. She was nervous. Picking up the paper she had set down, she climbed out her window and down her tree. Her hands shook as she walked towards Van's house. Shakily she climbed up the ladder and up to the window. She took a deep breath. _No going back now_, she told herself.

"Hey Van," she said, climbing inside his window.

"Hey," he called, his head under the bed. "Aha!" he yelled and pulled his arm out, clutching a shoe in his hand. "I found you!" He turned back to Hitomi, smiling at her. She gave him a wavering grin and sat down on his desk chair. Raising an eyebrow at her, Van sat on his bed. "What's up 'Tomi?"

"Um… Van? Can I uh, tell you something?" Hitomi's voice wavered. She could never remembering feeling this nervous in her life. Van nodded at her, looking odd. "Well, it's not um, so much of something I need to tell you as, uh… something you need to read." She walked over to him and handed him the paper she had been holding tightly for the last little while.

It was the note she had written to him right before trying to kill herself. Hitomi had read it so many times she could almost recite it.

__

Dear Van,

First off, I want to say sorry. I know this is probably the worst thing I could have done but I don't know how I'm going to go on living normally after all this. My mom pulled a knife on me this afternoon and it finally pushed me over the edge. Tell everyone - Dilly, Merle, Millerna, Allen, Dryden - how much I love them. They were there for me as best as they could have been. Tell them they're the best. And now I need to tell you something I've been hiding for the last little while. Van, I'm in love with you. I didn't realize it until last Sunday when you took care of me and covered for me when my mom had hurt me, yet again. Sorry for not telling you sooner, when there was something you could do about it. You're the best friend in the world.

Love, Hitomi

Van's eyes widened about half way through the letter. Hitomi knew this was going to throw his whole world out of view for a while. He finished reading the note and put his hands down by sides. Staring at his lap for a moment, he looked lost in thought. Then he looked up with a look in his eyes Hitomi had never seen. She squinted, trying to read him.

He stood and started to walk towards her and Hitomi was incredibly afraid for his answer. Even though she knew Van wouldn't react harshly toward her, she was laying her heart on the line, right out where it could get broken.

He now stood in front of her, looking into her eyes. "'Tomi," he breathed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Van put a hand on her cheek and brushed his thumb across it. It was all Hitomi could do to keep herself from leaning into his hand.

There was a silence and finally, it became unbearable. "Van?" Hitomi started, quietly. "I'm kinda nervous here… Do you want to tell me what you're thinking?"

Van leaned forward and gently brushed his lips across Hitomi's. She gasped and leaned back a bit, looking at him uncertainly. With a smile, Van put a hand on the back of Hitomi's head and drew her back to him. They had kissed many times before. Giving each other little kisses all their lives. But this kiss was different. This kiss was filled with a passion Hitomi didn't know Van had.

Tentatively, Hitomi reached her arms around Van's neck and buried her fingers in his hair. If possible he pulled her in even closer and Hitomi could feel all the muscles in his stomach. When Van finally pulled away from Hitomi, her legs were shaking and her breathing heavy.

"Van?" she questioned.

"Mmmm?"

"I'm not going to be dropped like your other girlfriends, am I?"

Van stopped playing with her fingers and kissing the ends of them, and looked up at her. "Hitomi. If you thought I would do that, would you have told me in the first place?" After thinking for a while, she shook her head.

Smiling at her, he lowered his head for another kiss. Hitomi barely noticed him moving slowly until she was laying back on the bed. Van kissed his way down her neck and back up to her lips again. One look into her eyes was all the confirmation he needed before he started playing with the edge of her shirt. Finally, after all Van's hesitation, Hitomi couldn't stand it anymore. She pulled her shirt off and kissed Van on the lips.

* * *

In the midst of their passion, Van looked down at Hitomi. Her eyes were closed and there were silent tears coursing down her cheeks. He remembered she had never been in a situation like that before and he leaned down and kissed her lightly. Hitomi's eyes flickered open and looked up into his.

"You okay?" he asked.

Hitomi nodded slowly and Van kissed her again, this time more fervently.

"I love you, 'Tomi."

* * *

Van's eyes opened slowly and the first thing he saw was ruffled brown hair. He was lying in his bed and Hitomi was sleeping beside him. There was nothing unusual about that except the fact that they hadn't just been sleeping the night before. Hitomi moved and made a noise. Van thanked God that his parents believed in giving him privacy in his room. He didn't know how he would explain this if they were caught.

Finally Hitomi stretched and her body came even closer to Van's than before. He wrapped his arms around her tight enough that she couldn't move farther away and grinned cheekily down at her when she looked up at him. She grinned back and closed her eyes again, nuzzling her face into Van's shoulder.

"Tired?" he asked her, smartly.

"No," she said, lifting her head and sticking her tongue out at him. "You should be though."

He couldn't help but laughing and Hitomi kissed his chin gently. Leaning down, Van rested his forehead on hers. "You know what?" he asked.

"What?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Van," she said and kissed him with a passion she hadn't realized she had until the night before. It shocked her to realize that although she had been in intimate situations before, they hadn't forged a bond as deep as the one she shared with Van.

It was weird, they had changed their whole relationship in a few minutes. When Hitomi had handed Van her letter telling him how she felt, it opened another door. Van had stepped through the door when he kissed Hitomi. The chance that anyone other than Van would have taken advantage of her in that situation was very likely. Instead, he had looked at it for what it was and then examined his own feelings.

Breaking Hitomi out of her thoughts, Van said, "Now you can finally say you have a boyfriend that wants in your pants."

She burst out laughing and started to slide out of his bed, dragging a sheet with her. Van smiled at her. After last night he was amazed she was so embarrassed as to cover herself with a sheet in front of him. Hitomi pulled on her shirt she had carelessly tossed on the ground. Then she tossed pair of pants at Van who was still in bed. He smirked at her and nudged the pants off the bed. Hitomi, who now was fully clothed, finger-combed her hair in the mirror. Then she sat down on the bed beside Van.

"I gotta go, call me later, okay?" She kissed him quickly on the mouth and stood to leave. He grabbed her hand and she turned. Gently he kissed it and she smiled before exiting through his window.

Van leaned back. He had a girlfriend. And this time it wasn't a brief fling. In fact, he'd talked with Merle about this not too long ago. 'The girl of his dreams.' Well, she wasn't hiding anymore.

(A/N: Who liked that? J I DID! Fluff!!! Mmm hmm!! Well, Iunno when I'll be updating again, hopefully within the next week but NO GUARENTEES! The love of my life left yesterday for SEVEN months! I don't know when I'll talk to him again!! Waah! But I have to go do homework because my math teacher is a beast and gives us lots… BOO! As always, Review!)


	8. Eight

A phone rang.

"Hello?"

"HITOMI!"

"OW, Millerna! Don't yell in my ear! What's wrong?"

"It's - it's - it's -" The girl stopped speaking, she was sobbing too hard.

"What?" Hitomi asked. "What is it?"

"DRYDEN!" Millerna screamed suddenly and Hitomi jumped, her phone flying from her hand and onto the floor. She scrambled to pick it up and heard Millerna still talking. "... and then he told me that if that's how I really felt then it was over. Over! After seven months! I really thought he was the one!"

"Millerna, calm down, take a deep breath, okay? I'm gonna get Merle on here, we'll all talk about it together, is that alright with you?"

Hearing a sob, Hitomi took it as a yes. Quickly, she pressed the appropriate buttons and a man's voice picked up.

"Hello?" it said.

Millerna wailed and drowned out everything for a couple seconds.

"Sorry about that," Hitomi said. "Is Merle there?"

"Yes, just a second."

"Hello?" A girl's voice was on the line now.

"Hey Merle."

__

WAIL!  
  
"Ow, what is that?"

"Not _what_, Merle, _who_. Millerna's having some Dryden issues and we're having girl talk."

Hitomi could almost hear Merle shift into her therapist gear. She cleared her throat and Hitomi swore her voice lowered several pitches to sound more professional. 

"What exactly happened Millerna?"

"WE BROKE UP, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!"

"Hey, this could be Allen's big chance," Hitomi said.

"HITOMI!" Merle scolded.

"Oops… I mean, no, he does not like you."

"Allen likes me?" Millerna stopped sobbing and Hitomi sweat dropped. She almost visualized her primping in the mirror, putting makeup on to cover the tear stains.

"Er -"

"Never mind girls! I have to go, my call waiting's going off, it might be Dryden!" Millerna hung up and left Merle and Hitomi alone on the phone.

"Where were you last night, 'Tomi?"

"Um… no where?"

"What're you hiding, Hitomi Kanzaki?"

"Nothing Merle. I was just at Van's, that's all."

"Do you know who he likes? I feel really stupid saying this but, I've liked him for a long time!"

Hitomi coughed, uncomfortable. "I have to go, sorry Merle, talk to you tomorrow!" Hanging up before she got a reply, Hitomi let out a sigh of relief. She had to work something out with Van so they didn't have to hide this from their friends. But with Dilandau liking her and Merle liking Van, it was a sensitive subject.

She flopped onto her bed, weary from lack of sleep, and… other things. When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she saw was big brown eyes with dark hair flopping over them. Letting out a scream, Hitomi clutched her chest, trying to calm her franticly beating heart.

"VAN! What're you doing? Are you trying to kill me?"

With a playful grin to her, Van plopped himself on the bed. He picked up her pillow and put it onto her face, pushing her back onto the mattress. When Hitomi removed the pillow she looked up at Van, who was only inches away from her face. Her gaze travelled from his eyes to his lips and then back to his eyes. Van sat up quickly and she did too.

"So… what's uh - up? I mean - going on?" Hitomi asked. (A/N: Did anyone get that but me?)

"Nothing, I've been hanging around, sleeping. Dryden phoned and started freakin' out."

"What did he say? Was it about Millerna?"

"How'd you know?" questioned Van.

"Millerna called," Hitomi said simply, and shrugged.

"Oh... Van trailed off. "'Tomi?"

"Mmm?" Laying back down, Hitomi looked ready to fall asleep.

"Things won't get awkward, will they?"

She sat up, her bright green eyes serious. They moved from his eyes down to his hand that had just grabbed hers. Gulping, Hitomi shook her head.

"We won't let it Van," Hitomi almost whispered. With a lopsided smile, he lifted her hand and kissed the back gently.

* * *

"Hitoooooomiiiiiii!"

Dilandau wrapped his long arms around Hitomi's stomach and picked her up, swinging her away from her open locker door. When he put her down, she turned back to him and gave him a playful shove. He over exaggerated it and rammed into the lockers on the other side of the hall.

"Hi - to - mi - I'm - die - ing!" he gasped, clutching his heart.

"Meh, what ya gonna do?" Hitomi asked, going back to her locker. Dilandau dropped the act.

"Where were you Friday night? I called but no one answered."

Hitomi coughed and fumbled with her lip gloss. It fell from her hands and hit the ground. Bending, she tried to hide the blush on her cheeks. When she stood again, Dilandau's pale eyes were focussed on her face. He walked forward and caught her up against the lockers in between his arms.

"Where were you?" he asked again.

"At Van's, nothing unusual." To her ears, her voice sounded several pitches too high.

Dilandau's eyes narrowed until Hitomi thought they were in danger of disappearing into his face. 

"That's weird," he said, "I called him too. No one answered."

Hitomi thought back, trying to remember if either of them had heard the phone ring. Apparently not.

"Where were you really, 'Tomi?"

"In Van's room! Seriously Dilly, we were there the whole night, I swear!" Hitomi held up one hand as if swearing on the Bible. Letting out a sigh she said, "It doesn't matter, I might as well tell you the truth. Me and Van are... Well, we're together. It only happened on Friday."

"Hitomi, you're talking about Van right? Van Fanel? The one that goes the our school, one of my best friends?"

"Er - yes."

"He's a player! 'Tomi, don't make the mistake all the other girls did." Dilandau set a hand on Hitomi's shoulder and looked down at her. "I know he's a good friend and everything, but is he really what you need right now?"

"Dilandau! What's wrong with you? He's my best friend in the world and now that he's something more you start guilt tripping me!" Dilandau opened his mouth to say something but Hitomi cut him off. "And as for what I need right now, I very much doubt things can get any worse than they already are. How would you know what's best for me? You don't! So lay off!"

Slamming her locker, Hitomi stalked off down the hallway, away from Dilandau. He watched her leave, not moving or saying anything. And that's why, when Van found Hitomi several hours later, she was sulking under a tree outside, doing homework.

"Hey, where were you in first? I had no one to copy off of."

Hitomi made a noise in her throat. Van sat down on the grass beside her and studied her face. She was scribbling some math equations down furiously and her mouth was set in a line.

"Don't tell me I skipped second to come looking for you, only to find you sitting under a tree, in a horrible mood, doing MATH and not talking?"

Casting a dark look up at him, Hitomi turned back to her work. Van grabbed her chin and turned it so she was looking at him. 

"That's it," he said. "What happened?"

"Dilandau knows," she told him quietly.

"And?"

"And what?"

"You want to elaborate on that at all?"

"Oh, he just started bagging on me. Asking me if you're what I really need right now and telling me not to make the same mistake all your other girlfriends had."

Van looked down sheepishly. "So I guess everyone else knows now too."

"You can bet on it," Hitomi said.

* * *

As Hitomi walked into her house after school, she heard a squeal come from upstairs. Dropping her backpack and climbing the stairs, she heard it again. When she got to the top of the stairs she saw Mamoru run into his room, crying. Hitomi's mother came out of her room.

"Come back here you little -" She stopped when she saw Hitomi.

"I thought," Hitomi said deathly silent, "I told you to never, never touch him again."

Looking furious, Hitomi's mother approached her. Instead of hitting her, as Hitomi had expected, she reached out and shoved her. That's when Hitomi realized her mistake.

She had been standing right at the top of the stairs.

(A/N: Happy happy, joy joy! Another chapter done! Nuffin' to say to you all really... Just that I hoped you all liked it and as always, YOU SHOULD REVIEW!)


	9. Nine

Van watched Hitomi walk up the steps to her front door. She opened it up and gave him a last wave. A high pitched squeal came from the inside before the door closed. He stood there thinking about his friends' reaction when they had all found out about his newest girlfriend. Not to mention she was his best friend. In fact, she was everything he had ever wanted.

No one had confronted either of them on it besides Dilandau that morning but Van had seen their looks and heard their whispers. After twenty minutes of it at lunch time, neither him nor Hitomi could stand it anymore so they left to be alone.

Van was broken out of his reverie when he thought he heard a quiet thump from inside Hitomi's house. He shook his head and decided he needed to go home and do some homework for once. After he had taken several steps, Hitomi's mother opened the front door to her house and exited, jumping into her car and driving off quickly.

* * *

"Unnnngggghhh... "

"Hitomi?"

"Nnnnnyeah?"

"Talk to me 'Tomi! Please!"

Hitomi opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. Her headache seemed to quadruple when she did. Trying to move her arm to cover her eyes only resulted in a shooting pain through her whole body. An arm touched her shoulder and shook her lightly. Her eyes sprung back open and she gasped.

"OW!"

"I'm sorry Hitomi," a small voice said. After thinking for a moment she recognized it as Mamoru's. "You wouldn't wake up. Mommy left a long time ago and I didn't know what to do, oh, 'Tomi, what do I do?" Mamoru's eyes streamed and he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

The first thing Hitomi thought of was not to call the hospital or even her father, which would have been a close second.

"Van," she said. "Call Van, baby, he'll know what to do."

Mamoru ran off to get the phone. While he was gone, Hitomi shifted her focus to herself, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Her head pounded and she felt very tired and slightly nauseous, which probably indicated she had a concussion. One of her wrists felt like it had been run over by a car several hundred times so she guessed it was broken. Gingerly, Hitomi tried to wiggle a foot. It hurt. Letting out a sigh of relief, Hitomi tried to think about other things while she waited for Mamoru to return.

He came back waving the phone in the air. Hitomi told him Van's number and listened to his side of the conversation.

"Hi, Van? This is Mamoru... I need to you come over right now... Hitomi needs you real bad. She fell down the stairs an- ... Yeah... I don't know... Okay, bye." He shut off the phone and turned to Hitomi. "He's coming."

"Thanks baby. You know what? You should call daddy okay? Tell him to come pick you up and that I'll call him later."

Mamoru nodded and wiped his nose on his sleeve again. He ran off to change, not even asking why. Hitomi struggled to keep her eyes open. After twenty seconds of that it got too challenging and she gave up. She'd just rest for a second because she was so tired.

"Hitomi?"

Her eyes flickered open. When they focussed she was staring into worried brown eyes. She barely felt his fingers gently touch the side of her face.

"Van," whispered Hitomi. "I'm sorry. I couldn't call you, I got Mamoru to and - and -"

"Shhh." Van tried to sooth her. She wasn't making much sense and he couldn't really blame her considering she had just "fallen" down the stairs. Picking up the phone, Van quickly called the emergency number and was put onto the line with an operator.

"Stay away, 'kay 'Tomi?" he said before starting to talk to the operator. When he finally shut off the phone, ambulance on it's way, Hitomi's eyes were closed. Van reached down and brushed his fingers across her cheek. Her eyes fluttered but didn't open.

Mamoru walked down the stairs, watching his sister's face. "Has Hitomi gone to sleep again Van?"

"Again?" Van asked, slightly panicked.

"Mmm hmmm... She was sleeping for a long time before. Is she going to sleep for that long again?"

"I hope not Mamoru. Is your dad on his way?" Mamoru nodded. "Okay, how about you stand at the front door and watch for him. When he comes here you go with him and me and Hitomi will talk to you later." Mamoru nodded again and ran to the door. After a couple minutes he called out a goodbye and ran out the door.

"Okay Hitomi, wake up," Van said, rubbing her cheek with his hand. "Wake up now." Her eyes flickered again and this time opened . 

"Van," she breathed.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Van bent and kissed Hitomi's lips for a couple seconds. There was a knock on the door before it opened and Van sat back up. A couple paramedics surrounded Hitomi and lifted her up onto a stretcher. Van followed them and they let him get into the ambulance with her.

* * *

When Van saw Hitomi again it had been well over an hour since they had arrived at the hospital. There hadn't been anything too serious wrong with her but they wanted to keep her overnight for observation. Lacking anything to do, Van had called Hitomi's father, who brought Mamoru along, Merle, Dryden, Allen, Millerna, and Dilandau. The eight of them entered her room together. As soon as Millerna got a glimpse of her friend she let out a cry and covered her mouth.

Hitomi looked smaller than normal and there was an IV in her arm. Her left wrist was already in a cast and there were numerous machines hooked up to her to monitor her heart rate and other things. Merle turned around and buried her face in Van's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and lowered his eyes. This wasn't how he wanted to see Hitomi.

Allen had approached her bed and was now holding her right hand and stroking it softly. Hitomi's dad was sitting on a chair whispering to Mamoru.

"It was entirely accidental, she just fell down the stairs. Don't worry, Hitomi will be okay." Mamoru yawned, still watching his sister's face. Hitomi's father turned to Allen. "I'm going to take him home, will guys still be here for a while?"

Allen nodded. "We'll stay overnight too if we can," Merle said.

Hitomi's father smiled. "Good luck with that," he laughed. Taking Mamoru by the hand, he left the room.

"What happened to her Van?" Dilandau asked.

"Her - her mom," he choked out.

"What?" Allen sounded angry. "Her mom, Van?"

Van only nodded, while Millerna let out another choked sob. Dryden rocked her back and forth and whispered in her ear. She clung to him like a child would hold onto a precious toy and he ran his fingers through her blonde hair in an attempt to sooth her. Allen shot a quick jealous look in their direction but quickly masked his face.

"What do you mean?" Merle questioned.

"Aaaauuunnnngghhh..."

All of them turned to look at Hitomi and Allen bent down so his face was on a level with hers.

"Hitomi? Are you awake?"

"Ggnnnnyeah... Allen?"

"I'm here 'Tomi. We all are. How do you feel?" His big hands held her littler one

"My head hurts like a bitch," she complained.

"That'll happen sometimes," Dilandau joked.

"Dilly," Hitomi mumbled, smiling. "You're here too!"

"Yeah I am," he said. "Everyone's here." He was slightly worried how she didn't seem to grasp that Allen had said the same thing only moments before.

"Mmmm... Van too?"

"Yeah," Millerna said, having finally released Dryden. "He's here."

Van perched on the edge of her bed and leaned over and kissed her high on her cheekbone. "Hey baby, are you alright?" he asked soothingly.

Laughing slightly Hitomi said, "Yep. I'm fine. Thing's are just great."

Dryden tapped Van's arm and pointed to Hitomi's IV bag. Morphine. A slight smile appeared on Van's face then. He knew Hitomi would be alright.

"We're gonna head out, okay Hitomi? We'll see you in the morning." He squeezed her hand and walked to the door, letting everyone say their own goodbye.

Merle came up beside him and leaned on his shoulder. "You really love her, don't you?" she asked.

Van nodded. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"I'm happy for you guys," she said and hugged him before they all left the room.

(A/N: Wow, took me quite a while to update. I'm just to busy to update every week, sorry guys! A couple people have asked what Amicitia means. I think this is the best chapter to answer that as it's the best example of it's meaning. Amicitia means _friendship_ in Latin. I looked it up on the internet and found a lot of different words I could have used for the title. This, by far, seemed to be the best one. Now go Review and I'll try to update sooner. You guys are the best!)


	10. Ten

Van entered the now familiar room. Hitomi had only been there overnight but Van had come to visit her a couple times. Okay, four... Fine, it was seven. She was going to be released in a couple hours and he had come early to just be with her until he took her home. They hadn't had the opportunity to be alone since Hitomi had been admitted to the hospital.

When he walked into the room Hitomi was laying on her bed, eyes closed. For a moment he thought she was sleeping until she heard him and opened her eyes. Van stopped all movement for a moment. After being best friends for so many years, he thought he'd be used to the colour of her eyes. Yet, every time he looked at them again, it took his breath away. Swallowing, he ambled over to her bed and sat down beside her.

"Hey," she whispered to him and smiled.

"How are you?" Van asked and leant down, kissing her softly.

"Mmm..." she murmured when he kissed her. "Better now."

With a smile, he took Hitomi's hand and stroked the back of it lightly with his thumb. "Hitomi?" he asked. "What are you going to do about your mom? Will you stay with one of us? We all know now so you won't have to hide anything anymore."

Hitomi sighed. "I don't know what I'll do. I have no idea how to tell my dad. I know he'll freak out when he realizes this isn't a one-time thing. Maybe I'll just run away for a while," she said, half joking.

"I'll come with you."

"Mmm... I don't know what to do. Maybe I should just go home and tough it out. It can only get better, right?"

Van lay down on the bed beside her and she tipped her head so it was on his shoulder. "Why don't you stay with me?" he asked. "Could be fun." If Hitomi didn't know Van so well, this would have sounded like an innocent remark. But she caught the underlying meaning and smacked him lightly. Van laughed at her innocently. "What?" he questioned.

Both of them fell silent after a while. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was peaceful and it filled them both. Hitomi ran her fingers up and down Van's arm while he stroked her hair gently. The moment was spoiled as Merle, Allen and Millerna came barging in.

"We brought you your homework Hitomi!" Merle shrieked loudly, not realizing what she interrupted.

Hitomi smiled wryly as Van sat up. Their fingers still lay interlocked on the bed and Merle's gaze went straight to them. She turned and looked back at Allen and Millerna. Van noticed they were standing closely. It was weird to see Millerna and Dryden separated, but to see her with Allen with Dryden not there made him see, really see, the affection Allen had for her.

Van stood and let go of Hitomi's hand. She looked at him, eyes almost shocked at the loss of his touch. Merle smiled and opened her mouth to say something when a nurse came in. She had platinum blonde hair and chewed gum loudly.

"Hitomi Kanzaki?" she asked and Hitomi nodded. "Okay, like, you can go now. Can you, like, have your stuff together and be, like, out of her in, like, an hour?" Hitomi mumbled her assent.

Van and Hitomi both visibly cringed. The nurse talked like Yukari and it brought Van memoirs about their times together. It brought Hitomi recollections about Van being with a different girl. Neither of these were pleasant memories.

"Okay," Allen said. "We ready to go?" Another nod from Hitomi. "I'm gonna head down to the car and get it warmed up. Meet me there?"

"Can I go with you Allen?" To say he looked surprised when Millerna asked that would be an understatement of the grossest kind.

He gulped and said, "Yeah." Merle stifled a giggle as they left the room.

"What's going on with them Merle?" questioned Van.

"Well, Dryden called up Millerna last night and told her how sorry he was and asked her to take him back. Of course, we all thought she'd say yes. But she didn't. Now her and Dryden are officially broken up! Oooooh, it's all so exciting!" She clapped her hands, eyes shining like a little girl's.

"So that's why Dryden didn't come?" Hitomi asked.

"Yup," Merle confirmed. "Dilly couldn't come because he's working but he said to send his love."

Hitomi felt Van's hand on her shoulder and she reached up and grabbed it gently. There was something about it that seemed almost possessive to her. Merle laughed.

"Jealous, are we Van?" She seemed to be recovering extremely well since finding out one of her best friends was dating the boy she had liked for as long as she could remember.

Van stuck his tongue out at her and slipped his hand into his girlfriend's. Hitomi smiled gently at him and threw her other arm around Merle's shoulder. Her friend threw her arms around Hitomi and hugged her tightly.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said before skipping off down the hallway, pink hair bouncing. Van shared and amused look with Hitomi before kissing her temple. She smiled and they continued their walk down the hall.

* * *

Hitomi had wanted to go alone. She said that she would be all right. But Van wouldn't allow it. So both him and Hitomi were creeping up the stairs in her house, going to get clothes and overnight things. All lights were off and Hitomi didn't know whether to feel relieved or angry that her mother wasn't there.

Quickly, Hitomi grabbed her things and they left. She made a silent resolve to never go back to her house unless it was completely necessary. Van opened the door to his house. His mother smiled sweetly at her son and his newest girlfriend. With a small wave, they both went up the stairs and entered Van's room.

* * *

"Ah, I hate this cast!" Hitomi said in irritation. They were lying on Van's bed. He was on his back studying the roof while Hitomi had her head on his stomach.

"It's fine. Besides," a playful tone came into Van's voice, "casts are hot. It's not like you're permanently gibbled or deformed."

"Would you still love me if I was deformed?" she asked him, rolling onto her stomach.

"'Course 'Tomi. Even if you had one leg and four arms."

Her light laughter filled the room for a second. "What if I had a tail? Or webbed feet? Would you still love me then?"

"The answer hasn't changed," Van said. "Wouldn't you love me if I had wings or something?"

Hitomi sat up and looked at him seriously. "If you had wings you'd be like an angel Van. You'd be my angel." For a moment they just sat there staring at each other. "You already are," Hitomi whispered and Van's eyes softened. She looked down at her hands, embarrassed.

Van sat too and put one finger under her chin. He gently forced her face up until he could look into her eyes.

"I honestly don't know what I'd do without you Van. What if something happened to you? I would die." Hitomi sounded like she was going to cry. Van gathered her frail body into his arms and kissed her shoulder.

"Don't talk like that 'Tomi," he said.

"It's true. Would I even be in one piece if it wasn't for you?" She pulled away and looked at him seriously.

Van kissed her gently and then just held her. She put her head on his shoulder and traced random patterns on it. And even though she said it quietly, Van heard it: "I love you, my angel."

(A/N: I love the conversation between Van and Hitomi about the wings. I thought it was so cute and I kept trying to think of some way to put something about Van's wings into the fic. Someone commented on me calling people 'baby' a lot in the last chapter. I meant it in two different ways. When Hitomi calls her brother 'baby' it's like you would say to a younger cousin or sibling. When Van calls Hitomi 'baby' it's supposed to be in the boyfriend/girlfriend way. Just thought I'd explain that for you guys! And just in case someone comments on this, Mamoru didn't actually SEE his sister get pushed down the stairs, remember? Keep up the Reviewing, it makes my day!)

****

The Rose  
Bette Midler  
  
Some say love, it is a river  
That drowns the tender reed  
Some say love, it is a razor  
That leaves your soul to bleed  
Some say love, it is a hunger,  
An endless aching need  
I say love, it is a flower,  
And you its only seed  
  
It's the heart, afraid of breaking,  
That never learns to dance  
It's the dream, afraid of waking,  
That never takes a chance  
It's the one who won't be taken,  
Who cannot seem to give  
And the soul, afraid of dying,  
That never learns to live  
  
**When the night has been too lonely,  
And the road has been too long  
And you think that love is only  
For the lucky and the strong  
Just remember in the winter  
Far beneath the bitter snows  
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love,  
In the spring becomes the rose**


	11. Eleven

"Going to the party this Friday?" Dilandau asked.

"Huh?"

All seven of them were sitting outside under a tree. Dryden seemed to be trying very hard to keep his eyes off of Millerna. Her and Allen seemed close again. Every time Allen would reach up to brush some hair off her cheek or touch her arm, Dryden would clench a fist.

"Are you going to the party this Friday?" Dilandau repeated. "Mei is having one this weekend and next weekend. Her parents are gone for a couple weeks so she has the house to herself."

Mei was a senior like them. She had to be the richest, most beautiful, most popular, most anorexic girl at their school. Her hair was dyed a bright blonde to go with her blue contacts, her nails always done up in professional French manicures. For the longest time she had had her eye on Van but apart from a short fling with her in their sophomore year, he had never been too interested.

"I dunno," Merle drawled. She was lying on her back with her hips in her hands and legs straight up in the air. "That's an awful big favour you're asking Dilly. Don't know if we could do that."

"Why'd she ask you of all people anyways?" Millerna teased.

"She was probably hoping he's bring Van," said Allen.

Hitomi stuck out her tongue at him and lay back on her boyfriend's lap. He smiled down at her for a second before turning to Dryden.

"You coming man?"

"NnnyyI dunno... I'll think about it. We'll see if anything comes up."

"You should come Dryden," Millerna said.

Almost too quickly he replied, "I'll think about it."

"You up to it?" Van asked quietly and leaned down to catch Hitomi's mouth with his own.

"Sounds like fun," she murmured into his lips.

"Ahem," Dilandau coughed. Both of them looked up. "What have we said about the public displays of affection?"

Hitomi brushed some hair off her forehead as Van helped her back into a sitting position. She wiped her mouth quickly. "Yeah, sorry about that," she said, embarrassed.

Dilandau shrugged and went back to shredding grass. Merle kicked sharply into the air and Dryden watched as Millerna whispered into Allen's ear and he laughed. There was a silence after Allen finished laughing. He leaned over and said something quietly to Millerna and she nodded and started to stand.

"We're gonna go get some ice cream or something, maybe skip fourth, who knows. Anyone else up for it?" she asked.

The rest of them muttered a 'No, thanks,' or shook their heads. With a shrug, Millerna grabbed Allen's hand and ran off, her skirt swishing around her calves and a small span of tanned leg showing underneath. Hitomi and Van both stood then and muttered some excuse before leaving also. Merle lay flat and flipped onto her stomach. She looked back and forth between her two friends that were still sitting with her. For several moments they didn't move, not even when Merle threw a small rock at Dryden and it bounced off his face.

"This blows," Dilandau said, watching Hitomi's back.

"Tell me about it man." Dryden was still looking the direction Millerna had left.

Merle stood up and booted Dilandau in the leg before stalking off.

* * *

Hitomi walked into Van's room, towelling her hair just as he pulled on a shirt.

"Good shower?" he asked.

"Mmm hmm. Tonight's going to be awesome, I haven't been to one of Mei's parties for so long."

"Me neither." Then Van noticed her uneasy expression. "What's wrong? You look, I dunno... upset in some way. Are you alright?"

Hitomi nodded but the expression stayed on her face. "It's just, Van, you could have your choice out of how many girls? And you chose me. The one with the messed up family who tries to k-kill herself and can't do anything right."

Van walked over to her and put a hand on either side of her face. After looking into her eyes for a moment he said, "Maybe that's exactly what I like about you. Or maybe it's because none of those other girls know who I really am. But maybe it's just because I like Hitomi for who she is, mistakes and all."

"I'm sorry," she whispered as he pulled her into an embrace. "I just got worried. I mean... Mei _likes_ you. And she's wanted by everyone _but_ you."

"What can I say?" Van laughed. "I guess I've just found something better." Hitomi laughed weakly and he ruffled her hair. "Okay, finish getting beautiful so we can go."

* * *

__

"Hello?"

"Hi Daddy."

"Oh, Hitomi, it's you! How're you doing sweetheart?"

"I'm doing pretty good dad. But I have a favour to ask you."

"What would you like?"

"Can Mamoru stay with you for a while?"

"Why hunny?"

"I'm staying with Van because, well, mom's been kind of... psycho since the divorce and everything."

"Psycho how Hitomi?"

"She just hasn't been too nice."

"You're starting to scare me. What has your mother been doing?"

"Just... I don't want you to make a big deal out of it."

"I won't"

"You're lying and we both know it dad."

"True, but please tell me anyways."

"I didn't fall down the stairs dad."

"…"

"Dad?"

"Are you saying your mother pushed you?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Hitomi! That's serious, we have to call child services at once. Mamoru and you are going to live with me from now on. Your mother will be lucky if she even gets to see you on weekends! I'm going to come pick you up right now, where did you say you were?"

"Dad! Don't freak out! I'm at Van's house and I'm fine. I've been staying here for the last couple nights. Mr and Mrs Fanel have been great, they say I can stay as long as I want. I haven't been home yet, I just wanted to tell you not to send Mamoru home."

"I won't, don't worry."

"Thanks dad. But I gotta go; I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you too sweetie."

* * *

Van stood leaning against the fireplace with Mei talking to him on his right. His eyes scanned the room for Hitomi but he couldn't see her anywhere. 

Millerna came running and hopping by yelling, "I'm a pony! I'm a pony!" with Allen following close behind. "She's had a bit too much to drink," he said with a grimace. (A/N: One of my friends actually did the whole "I'm a pony!" thing when she was drunk. It's quite comical, take my word for it.)

"Seen Hitomi anywhere?" Van yelled over the music.

"Nope, but I'll tell her you're looking for her if I see her, okay?" Van nodded and Allen chased after Millerna.

"Van," Mei yelled. He didn't pay any attention to her, he was still scanning for Hitomi. "Van," she said again, louder still. When she got no response she shrieked, "VAN!"

Van had finally seen Hitomi. She had caught his eye just as Mei had yelled in his ear. "What?" he asked impatiently and turned to look at her. She flung both arms around his neck and pressed heavily glossed lips to his own. After a couple seconds, the shock of what Mei was doing wore off and he shoved her off him. Without any reply to her annoying voice, he looked for Hitomi again. She had left the room.

* * *

Hitomi stumbled into someone and looked up, green eyes streaming. Dilandau stood in front of her looking concerned. He set down his bottle on the nearest table and grabbed Hitomi's hand. He dragged her into a room and closed the door. Sitting her down on the bed he stared at her face.

"Spill 'Tomi. What happened?"

"Mei," Hitomi wailed. "And Van! Together!"

"Huh?"

"He kissed her! She kissed him! Whatever! They kissed!! AND I WAS IN THE SAME ROOM!" She didn't care that her voice was incredibly loud at the moment. It was unlikely anyone could hear it over the yelling and music in the other rooms.

Dilandau sat beside her on the bed and put his arms around her. For a moment she just let herself be held. Then she pulled away slightly and looked into his face. Concern and several other things were etched there. It was hard for her to tell who moved first; it must have been him. But the next thing either of them knew, both of their eyes were closed and their mouths were crushed together in a kiss. It wasn't either of them that broke it. It was the slam that came from the door as it was thrown open.

"Dilandau, you're fucking dead!"

Both him and Hitomi stood up as Van stepped into the room and strode towards Dilandau, most likely not with good intentions.

"Leave him alone Van," Hitomi cried.

"Wha - what?! 'Leave him alone'? Hitomi! Does every guy have the right to go around kissing you?"

Dilandau looked at both of them, jumped over the bed and left the room, shutting the door. He leaned on the outside for a moment. What had he just done? How long he had dreamed of doing that? But dreaming and doing were two very different things.

"No! But I can tell you don't feel the same! You can go around kissing whoever you want and I'm bound to one person, is that it Van?" Hitomi shouted at him. She had started crying again. In truth, she couldn't remember if she had even stopped.

"What? Hitomi, no!" Van reached for her hand. She moved it away from him before he touched it and lurched backwards towards the door.

"Don't you come near me Van Fanel. Don't come near me ever again."

She staggered out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Van was left staring at the wall. He sat down on the bed and put his face in his hands.

Hitomi half ran, half stumbled out of Mei's house, crying her heart out. She fell onto the lawn on her hands and knees. For a moment she stared at the ground, tears blurring her vision. Then she started retching. After several minutes of unsuccessful gagging, Hitomi felt a hand on her shoulder. She immediately thought it was Van and turned quickly. Dilandau was standing behind her with Merle beside him. Both looked concerned and Hitomi started sobbing as Dilandau stood her up and pulled her into a hug. Merle put one hand on her shoulder.

"We should take you home Hitomi," she said.

Hitomi just nodded as she was led to Merle's car and both her and Dilandau got into the back. He cradled her until they got to his house. Kissing her cheek, he left. Merle drove quickly until they arrived at her house. She helped Hitomi out of the car and up the stairs to the front door.

(A/N: There was a nice long chapter for you! Was it angsty? Well, slightly? Please? Maybe not but I tried! Don't worry, everything will turn out fine in the end, I just had to take it away from Hitomi's mom for a while. And plus, no one's relationship works 100% of the time, right? Right. I'm glad we all agree on that. Now you should Review it because I love Reviews and you love my story! Don't you?)


	12. Twelve

It was 9:47 when Van woke up to his phone ringing. As soon as he opened his eyes, all the things that had happened the night before came back to him. Even before that really. There was no Hitomi lying beside him and his bed felt huge with her gone.

Groggily, he picked up his phone and mumbled, "Hello?" into it.

"Van Fanel! What have you done to her?"

"Humm? Done to who?"

"Hitomi, you ass!" Merle screamed in his ear.

Van moved the phone away from his ear for a second, looked at it, and put it back to his ear. "What do you mean, what have I done? Nothing, considering this has been the longest we've been apart in like three weeks. What happened to her? Is she alright?"

"No! She's not all right! And neither am I! I'm dead tired because I couldn't sleep at all last night because she couldn't sleep at all last night because she was crying because of you! She fell asleep about five minutes ago for the first time since she's been at my house. What happened between you two? Did you guys fight?"

"Yeah," Van said, his voice hoarse suddenly. "About... Mei. And Dilandau."

"What?" Merle asked. "What does Dilly have to do with you guys fighting?"

"Er - Mei made a move on me and well, 'Tomi saw it and it upset her -"

"Damn straight," Merle mumbled, cutting him off.

"Anyways, she ran off before I could talk to her. When I finally found her with Dilandau she was, well..." He trailed off. It was weird; suddenly he had lost his voice. Maybe it had to do with the something that was in his eye. Van brushed his hand quickly across his eyes and cleared his throat.

"Really? Did Dilandau kiss her or did she kiss him?"

"Uh... I guess I really don't know."

"It doesn't matter Van. He shouldn't have done it anyways." Merle's voice was soothing and it calmed his nerves slightly.

"Thanks Merle. Man, is she okay?" Van asked. Even though he had caused this whole thing, he put her before himself. It was just habit by then.

"She's... Actually I don't know. She's broken Van. Like literally broken. I've never heard of someone crying that long. I don't think she stopped for more than five minutes. That's a lot of crying. I think she passed out actually. I mean, honestly, she didn't seem to be stopping and then she just kinda fell asleep."

Van lowered his head and gripped his hair with one of his hands. "Tell her - tell her I'm sorry, okay Merle?"

Before he got a reply, he hung up and Merle was left with a dial tone. She shook her head and wandered back to her room. Hitomi was sleeping under several blankets. Her face was still slightly red and puffy from hours of crying.

"He is sorry, you know. And he really loves you; you can see it when you look at him. Please forgive him 'Tomi," Merle said quietly to her sleeping friend. She knew it would save both of them a lot of pain if they forgave each other quickly.

* * *

The week had been tough. Hell, it had been the worst week of Van's life. Every morning he had woken up to a bed with no Hitomi, only to go to school where he could see her but not touch or speak with her. Every night his dreams were filled with her crying face and the last words she had yelled at him. "Don't you come near me Van Fanel. Don't come near me ever again."

If Van's week had been hard, Hitomi's was just as bad, if not worse. Deep down she knew that Mei had been the one to kiss Van, she had seen it. But still she hadn't been able to speak to him. She had kissed Dilandau. It had been just as much her as him. Why, she asked herself every night, why had she walked away from Van? Would she ever be able to get what they had back?

On the morning a week after Mei's first party, Hitomi walked around a corner at school, her head down. Van had just been talking to Dryden and turned his head just in time to smack into her. 

"Er... Sorry Van." A blush crept onto Hitomi's cheeks.

"It's fine," he said and brushed past her. She would have though him angry if at the last moment he hadn't put a hand on her shoulder in a soothing gesture.

* * *

"Allen, I don't know why I'm here honestly. After what happened last week..." Van trailed off.

"C'mon man, forget about it, have a drink. Mei won't bug you, she's found someone else to entertain her." Allen started talking to Millerna as soon as she entered the room. She tugged his hair lightly and he grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder. "You're going into the pool!" was all Van heard before they left the room.

He watched Hitomi from across the room. Even though she looked happy enough and flipped her hair while she sipped a drink and talked to some big guy from the football team Van didn't know, he could tell she wasn't as happy as she looked. She swayed a bit on her feet into the guy who looked equally drunk. He grabbed her hand and wandered out of the room with her.

Van didn't want to follow. He knew he would seem desperate. But after several minutes he drifted into the next room and saw Hitomi talking to the guy on the porch through the glass door. She stumbled into him and he put an arm around her. They both laughed as they walked out of Van's view.

* * *

"Alex, I don't think I should have anything else to drink," Hitomi slurred, laughing as she stumbled into him. He put an arm around her and steadied her. Hitomi looked around her at the empty backyard. Mei's pool glittered from the light shining off of it.

Alex and her wandered away from the door closer to some bushes. Hitomi looked up at him laughing but stopped when she saw his serious expression. He forcefully put a hand on the back of her head and kissed her. She put both of her hands on his chest and shoved him, barely getting him to release her. Stumbling backwards, she fell into the pool and quickly resurfaced.

Her eyes were wide and all traces of her drunken laughter were gone. Hitomi clambered out of the pool, pulling her skirt down and starting to run for the door. Alex easily grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards him. Once he got near the bushes, he shoved her down. She looked up frightened and he grabbed both her wrists again. She felt one of his hands on her legs and what he was trying to do finally got through to her.

"HELP! Someone, please help me!" Hitomi cried. Again Alex kissed her, but this time only to silence her. She bit his lip and spat on him. "Let me go! Please let me go!"

His hand went a little farther up her leg and started trying to push her skirt off. Hitomi struggled against the boy easily twice her weight. She kicked as she felt pressure on her inner thighs. Her eyes were closed and she prepared herself as best as anyone can to be violated in a way no one ever should be. Just as she stopped struggling for a moment, Hitomi heard a loud voice.

"Let go of my girlfriend you asshole."

She opened her eyes in time to see Van swing a well-aimed punch at Alex's head, knocking him out and onto Hitomi. Crying out in disgust, she writhed and tried to get out from under his massive body. Van came quickly to her side and shoved the unconscious guy off her. As soon as she stood, Hitomi flung her arms around Van and started to cry.

"Oh God. Oh God. He was - He was going to -"

"Shhhh, it's okay now. Please don't cry 'Tomi." Van brushed her hair out of her face and looked into her eyes.

"I was so scared. I screamed and yelled and no one came. Oh God, Van, no one came." Then she was kissing him. His cheeks and lips and face. "I love you Van. I love you so much. Never ever leave me again please. I missed you. I thought I was going to die. I wanted to but I couldn't ask you to forgive me because I knew I was wrong and I don't deserve you but I love you so much."

He let her ramble on as he made soothing sounds and stroked her hair. Her body felt so nice against his after a week. It made him appreciate her so much more than he ever had. Van looked at her face seriously.

"I won't ever leave you Hitomi. Do you know why?" She shook her head. "Because I love you, alright? Nothing and no amount of time will change it." Hitomi nodded as tears slowly ran down her face. "Oh God. I missed you so much this week. You'll come and stay with me again?"

She nodded and he kissed her, showing her without out words how lonely he had been. He took her hand and led her into the house. They sat on a couch in the middle of Mei's living room. People danced and yelled around them. Van squeezed her leg gently and she gritted her teeth for a moment. Both of them looked down at her thighs. Purple and yellow bruises dotted the inside of them just above the bottom of her skirt. She put a hand on his and squeezed it, almost to say, 'Don't worry, I'm okay.'

"I love you Van Fanel," she whispered then and many other times when he had taken her home. And he told her the same for most of the night. He just didn't use any words.

(A/N: Rape = BAD! Mmm hmm, thought I'd tell you that. Anywho, the dream team is together again, I know you all love it so much, as do we all. Yessss.... There's nothing for me to say. Have fun. Until next time my little Reviewers!!! [And that means, KEEP IT UP!])


	13. Thirteen

Merle opened her eyes. Where was she? It took her a moment to realize she was sleeping in a bed at Mei's house. She sat up and realized she was completely naked. Grabbing the blanket and covering herself appropriately, her eyes went to the person beside her. Dilandau.

As far as she could tell he wasn't clothed either. Although she couldn't remember much from the night before, Merle knew that it probably wasn't a good sign they were naked in the same bed. She searched for her clothes on the floor and as she suspected, they were all over the room, almost as if thrown there.

Clutching a sheet around her, Merle stumbled to the bathroom and vomited. When she came back into the bedroom, she dressed quickly. Running towards the door of the house, she stumbled a bit over passed out or sleeping people. Before starting her car, she put her head on the steering wheel and cried.

* * * 

Hitomi was sitting cross-legged on Van's bed, wearing one of his big shirts. She was braiding her hair absentmindedly when his phone rang. Not wanting him to wake up, she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hitomi, is that you?!"

"Merle, what's wrong, you sound like you're crying!"

"Hitomi, can I come pick you up, please. We need to talk."

"Of course. I'll get dressed. How long until you're here?"

"A couple minutes. Oh God, Hitomi... What have I done?"

"Calm down Merle, I'll see you in a couple minutes and we'll sort out whatever happened."

Both of them hung up the phone and Hitomi jotted a quick note out for Van, saying Merle called and needed to talk, she'd be back soon or call, don't worry. She dressed quickly and climbed down the ladder outside his window. When Merle's old car pulled up on the side of the road, Hitomi climbed in quickly.

"Okay, spill Merle. What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"What?" Hitomi asked.

"I don't know what happened, that's what's wrong!!"

"Calm down. Pull over Merle; we don't want to get in an accident. How about I drive?" 

Merle nodded and pulled over. They switched spots and Merle started crying again. "I woke up this morning at Mei's." Hitomi nodded. "And I was in the same bed as Dilly... " Hitomi clearly didn't grasp how much this was disturbing Merle because she just kept watching the road. "Hitomi! We were naked! Both of us!"

Hitomi's hands jerked a bit on the wheel but other than that she didn't give any sign that this disturbed her. This angered Merle until she finally said, "Stop the car!" Hitomi complied and turned to Merle, he eyes huge and her face pale.

"You and Dilly?"

Merle nodded.

"So... you're together now?"

"Hitomi, you're missing the point! We were both drunk! I don't remember anything and I doubt he does either! I don't want the friendship we have to be messed up. I know he doesn't want me like that and the same goes for me. None of it would have happened if we were sober!"

"Okay, calm down!" Hitomi gripped the arms of her now yelling friend. "Did you guys talk at all?"

"No! I left before he woke up! I don't even know if he realizes he did _anything_ and with _me_. What am I going to do?"

"Talk to him."

"About what? The fact that we fu -"

"No. About where you stand."

"Hitomi!" Merle wailed. "It was supposed to be special! The first time was supposed be special! And not only that, SOMETHING I COULD REMEMBER!"

"We all want it to be special."

"Was yours?"

Hitomi blushed. "I - uh - you see...." There was an awkward pause.

"Oh, sorry Hitomi! I guess I just presumed you and Van..."

"No! I mean yes! We have! But... it was special. And I just didn't wanna shove that in your face since you're so upset about this."

"I have no idea what to do!"

"Just, I dunno, let it work itself out. You'll have to talk to him eventually."

"I know." Merle leaned over to hug Hitomi.

* * *

"Meeeeeerle!" Millerna screeched when she saw her friend walking towards them in the hall.

"Hey!"

All seven of them were gathered near Dilandau's locker during lunch on Wednesday. As Merle approached, Dilandau felt a twinge of something. Before he could identify it, it was gone and he was left with a feeling of missing something important.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Merle asked through clenched teeth as she grabbed Millerna and Hitomi's arms.

"Er, okay. Be right back!" Hitomi called over her shoulder.

Once they were out of earshot, Merle turned on them, looking frightened. "Help me," she said.

"With what?" Millerna asked.

"I'm late."

"For...?"

"No, you don't get it. I'm _late_."

"Oh fuck." Hitomi clasped a hand to her mouth.

Millerna ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay, it was only last Friday, right? It's probably just your body sorting something out. Just a false alarm."

"And if it's not? It's not like I wouldn't know who the dad is! How would I tell him?"

"You could always get an abortion," Hitomi suggested hesitantly.

"That's horrible!" Millerna cried.

"But it would be my only choice." Merle's voice was firm. "How could this happen?!" She massaged her temples. "I can't go to class. I won't be able to concentrate. I'm gonna head to a pharmacy or something, see if I can pick up one of those little pregnancy testers."

"Want us to come?"

"No. I'll go alone."

"You sure?" Millerna asked.

"Yeah. I'll have to go sooner or later."

Both Hitomi and Millerna hugged Merle before she left. They walked back to the others, Hitomi squeezing Millerna's hand anxiously.

"What's up?" Dilandau questioned. "Where's Merle going?"

"Shut it Dilandau," Millerna snapped, confusing him.

"What happened?" Dryden enquired.

Hitomi just shook her head, looking at Millerna.

* * *

After climbing out Van's window, Hitomi started to walk. She was going to her dad's house to spend the night. Ever since moving out of her mom's, she'd spent most of her time at Van's or at other friends'. Her dad had called saying he never saw her and she should come spend some time with him and Mamoru. Not giving him a definite time, she said she'd be over later that day.

As she walked past her mom's house, the door opened and for the first time since being pushed down the stairs, Hitomi was facing her mother alone. Her mother took a step out the door, clearly going out for something. When she saw Hitomi she stopped.

"Hi mom," Hitomi said quietly.

"Hitomi," her mother whispered. "How are you?"

With a shrug, she replied, "I'm alright. Just heading to dad's."

She could almost see her mother's shoulders droop. "I see. I guess you wouldn't have time to come in for some coffee or anything, would you?"

"Um... Well, I told dad I would be there before five, so I guess I could have a cup of coffee; I have time."

Hitomi's mother smiled and for a moment she could have passed for a slightly older version of Hitomi. If Van or anyone else had been there, their objections to Hitomi going into her mother's house probably would have changed her mind. But she was there by herself so she went into her old house. There was a purse and some clothes sitting near the door. 

"Oh, those are some of your things you left here," her mother said lightly.

"Oh, thanks."

There was a pause as Hitomi's mother put on some coffee. "I've been going to counselling you know."

"That's good mom."

"My lawyer said maybe in a year or so, it would be suitable for me to ask to share custody with your father."

"Mmm…"

"Would you like that?"

"It'd be nice mom."

"I miss you guys."

"I miss you too."

"Then come back and stay with me!"

"You know I can't."

"Why not?"

Sighing, Hitomi said, "Because I don't know if I can trust you."

"I've changed Hitomi!"

"How do I know that?"

"...."

"I can't know for sure."

"Yet you trust your father?"

"Yeah, he's never done anything to me or Mamoru."

"I know. But that doesn't mean he was good to me Hitomi."

"What do you mean?

"Why do you think we divorced?"

"Because you weren't getting along."

"That's how it started. Then he started to get angry with me and he -"

"Stop. I don't want to hear this!"

"You need to know Hitomi. He's just as bad as I am." Her mother set two cups of coffee on the table.

"No he isn't. He has never laid a finger on either of us. That makes him a whole lot better than you!"

"Hitomi please come back!"

But Hitomi had already started to the door. Quickly she slipped on her shoes and left her old house. She could hear her mother's yells as she walked down the street. She was heading to her fathers. But now her mom had raised a question in her mind:

Was she really any safer there?

(A/N: *singing* And the man in the back said everyone attack, and it turned into a ballroom blitz! And the girl in the corner said boy I - ... Oh, hey guys! Didn't see ya there! Just jammin' to my music! It's great fun! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, there should be some more fairly soon. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO END THE STORY! Any ideas? If you have some, send 'em in on Review! And if you don't, send a Review in anyways!)


	14. Fourteen

"Hey dad," Hitomi said as she walked in the door.

Her dad looked up. "Hey Hitomi. Where were you?" 

"Oh, nowhere. I just lost track of time at Van's."

"He's a good kid, has he been treatin' you well?"

Hitomi blushed. She mumbled an assent, wondering how the whole world knew about her relationship with Van. She tripped her way down the stairs to her basement. Every time she went down stairs now, she would have to check to make sure there was no one behind her. She refused to walk or stand in front of anyone on the way down.

Mamoru was in the basement, sitting outside her room, playing with a friend. "Hi 'Tomi! Some people are in your room!"

"What?" she asked.

"Merle and Millerna are in your room. They got here a while ago."

"Alright," Hitomi said, trying to prepare herself for bad news if that's what they had come for.

When she opened the door, Merle was crying onto Millerna's shoulder. Hitomi took that as a bad sign and immediately stepped forward and put a hand on Merle's shoulder. She jumped off Hitomi's bed and hugged her, still crying. Clutching her friend, Hitomi tried to read Millerna's face with little success.

"Hitomi! The test - the test - Oh, God!"

"Calm down Merle."

"It was - it was - negative. Oh, God. I'm not pregnant! I'M NOT PREGNANT!"

Hitomi let out a scream and jumped up and down. Millerna was smiling and her eyes were shining with tears. For a moment they all stared at each other until a tear rolled down Millerna's face. Then they started laughing.

"Are you - are you going to tell him?" Hitomi asked.

A shocked look appeared on Merle's face. "What?! No! Why would I do that?"

"You don't think he deserves to know what you did, Merle?" Millerna prodded gently.

"No!" Merle cried. "I don't even know if we did anything!"

"But..." 

"No 'Lerna, I'm not gonna tell him."

"Okay, simmer your pants girl, it was just a suggestion."

The phone rang. Hitomi's father yelled for her to pick up. Obliging, she found herself talking to Dilandau.

"Yeah Dilly. 'Lerna and Merle are here.... Okay, you'll be here in five minutes? ... Sounds good dude, see ya soon." Hitomi hung up and faced her girlfriends. "The guys are on their way. Dilly said something about a movie at Van's. You guys both up to that?"

Nods and noises of assent came from her friends as Millerna stood up and started to reapply her smudged makeup. Merle sat for a moment, saying nothing but smiling.

"Hey, they're taking the grade twelve picture next week," Millerna commented casually

"Yeah. I can't wait, it'll be great!"

"You guys," came Merle's dreamy voice, "I think I'm gonna tell him."

Hitomi grinned, green eyes glinting. Millerna applied some more eyeliner just as Mamoru ran into the room yelling, "VAN'S HERE!" and causing her to poke herself in the eye. She cried out and put a hand over it. Laughing, the three of them headed upstairs. Looking out the window, Hitomi could see the dark haired beauty that was her boyfriend standing outside of Allen's car waiting for them.

With a yell to Mr. Kanzaki, they left and Van smiled at Hitomi when she caught his eye. He grabbed Merle around her waist and tossed her into Allen's Shaggin' Wagon. She shrieked as she landed on Dilandau.

"Hey Dilly, I feel very close to you now."

"You're a nerd Merle," Dryden commented from the passenger seat. With a nod, she laughed at him.

Millerna piled onto Merle and Hitomi and Van joined them. Allen started driving and Millerna leaned forward in her seat to talk to him. Dryden glanced over at her from the passenger seat and she winked at him. He raised his eyebrows but smiled still.

"I think Dryden's still got it bad for 'Lerna," Merle said into Hitomi's ear.

"He always has," she whispered back, giggling.

When they arrived at Van's, they all piled out except Allen and Millerna. They were going to get a movie so it left the rest of them ten minutes to make popcorn, get drinks and do random little things. Hitomi saw Merle touch Dilandau's arm and say something to him, inclining her head away from Van's house. He nodded and they started wandering that way.

"We're just going for a walk, we'll be back in a few!" Dilandau called as Merle shot Hitomi a scared look. She grinned back, giving her a thumbs up.

The other three ambled slowly up the steps. Van opened his door and Dryden stepped inside. Mr Fanel called out a greeting to him and Mrs Fanel came and kissed Hitomi on both cheeks gushing about how she hadn't seen her _forever_! Would she be staying the night? With a look at Van, Hitomi confirmed that she would be and Mrs Fanel rushed off saying she needed to put some conditioner in the bathroom and change the towels.

"Your mom's cool, man," Dryden said after she had sent them downstairs saying she would make popcorn and send down the others when they arrived.

Soon enough they arrived. Merle trotted down the stairs looking flushed. She muttered something about how Dilandau would be a couple minutes before flopping down into a chair. Sure enough, he came down the stairs with a chattering Millerna. His face was white and he avoided looking at anyone.

Even though everyone could feel it, no one mentioned the tension growing between the seven of them. It was the closest they had ever come to being separated. And it was without one word. They were in the same room, all within inches of each other. Yet, they did not reach out to question to tension, to ease it. They let it grow until the movie playing in front of them was forgotten and all were lost in their own thoughts.

Millerna was thinking about Merle and Dilandau of course. She was not wholly focused on them though. Half of her being was focused on the beautiful blonde sitting beside her and letting her lean on him. She tried to clear her thoughts as his fingers lazily travelled up and down her arms but found it impossible. Closing her eyes, she willed everything away.

Dryden's mind was filled, as it often was, with Millerna. He was probably the most focused on the movie, though he was consciously aware of Allen's fingers tracing up and down Millerna's arms, sometimes coming up to touch her face and neck. He could feel the tension almost crackling between Merle and Dilandau but he had no idea what caused it or how deep it really went.

Van sat on his chair with Hitomi on top/in front of him. Both arms were wrapped around her from behind and she was leaning her head on his shoulder, watching, just watching the emotions play out on the faces of all her friends. It was almost as if she could perceive what they were thinking, and through her, Van could too. He instinctively knew, with no words, that the tension wasn't between Millerna and the struggle over her. It was between the pink haired girl on the floor in front of him with her face in her hands and the blonde boy lurking somewhere in the shadowed corners of the room. Hitomi turned her face to look at him and lying on hand on his cheek, he understood what she would do.

Merle didn't want anyone to see. She couldn't take it if they knew that she was crying. So she lay alone, hoping they believed, yet knowing they didn't, that she was fine. That everything was fine. She could still taste the words that had been flung from her to Dilandau and back. They tasted like something bitter. Something bitter only time could ease.

Allen's mind wasn't with really with him. He was ecstatic at the recent closeness Millerna had allowed him yet still tentative, because couldn't it, like so many other things in his life, be taken away in just one moment? He looked at Dilandau. Took in Merle's stance. He knew something was happening. And it was tearing them all apart.

It's impossible to say what was really spinning through Dilandau's head at that moment. It was hard to say what he was thinking even on a normal day. Even he didn't know what he was feeling. He blamed himself. Why had he been careless enough to let something like that happen between him and Merle? Standing at the back of the room, he dragged his fingers through his white-blonde hair and let out a shuddering breath.

With a fluid movement, Hitomi had freed herself from Van's grasp and seemingly slid through the shadows to grasp Dilandau's hand. She dragged him easily through the house and out the back door. They stood in the dark, Hitomi trying to grasp all she could just by his body language, and Dilandau trying to hide it all. Then she reached up and grasped him around the neck gently. Without words, Hitomi pulled his head down a bit and embraced him. When his arms finally wrapped gratefully around her, she felt him shaking and for the first time in her life, felt older than he was.

They swayed for several moments gently, without really knowing it. Then Hitomi broke away, she looked up into her friends face and said, in a broken sounding voice, "Dilly, what happened?"

"I -" he choked, "I - don't know."

"What did Merle say?" Hitomi's hand rested on his cheek and one of his came up to hold it there.

"We - we did something bad, 'Tomi."

His silver looking eyes glinted down at her in the dark and she felt something wet on her hand. A single tear had escaped down Dilandau's face. Hitomi pulled him into a tighter embrace than before and whispered soothing words into his ear.

"I know what you did, Merle told us. There hasn't been any lasting damage."

Dilandau broke away from her and took a step back, shaking his head. "Nothing you can see," he rasped. "I only took her innocence, Hitomi. And it hurts because neither one of us remembers it. We don't know where to go from here! What do we do? Pretend like it never happened? Acknowledge that it did?" His hands shook as he again ran them through his hair. "I just wanna run. Get out of here forever."

"Then run," Hitomi said. "Run. Just don't run forever."

As Dilandau walked around the side of the house to the front of the house, he took deep breaths trying to calm his jangling nerves. In the lamplight his blonde hair glowed and he looked almost ethereal.

"Tell her I'm sorry," he whispered as he stepped closer to Hitomi. "Tell her that I love her."

Then he turned and took a few steps walking. Slowly he broke into a run and kept running until Hitomi lost sight of him. She sank to the pavement and put her head onto her knees. There was a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see the rest of them there.

There was a certain tone of sadness as she and Van watched Millerna, Dryden, Merle, and Allen pile into his van and drive off.

If you had watched from the distance, you would have seen the dark haired figure come around the front of the smaller, lighter one and wrap his arms lovingly around her. In the lamplight, you could see her close her eyes and just let herself be held for a moment. You would have seen him rain kisses lightly down on her shoulder and neck as she grasped his hair. Yet even from a distance, you would see that this was not a passionate exchange in anyway. It was the bond of being able to communicate just through body language. It was him telling her that she would be safe, that everything would be all right. It was two people leaning on each other for support.

It was love.

(A/N: Okay my dears, this is it, second last chapter. I thought and thought and thought and THOUGHT about how to end it! So here's a bit of info that will just help you understand a bit though you might question how it could apply to the story in any way:

Remember how Millerna mentions the grade twelve picture early on in this chapter? Well, if you don't, go up and reread it. The grade twelve picture is something that happens at my school every year. A photographer comes to the school and they bring the seniors out in a huge group and take a picture from on top of a building of all of them. It's not formal, just them posing how they want to, with friends, alone, whatever.

And you may notice how this chapter was slightly angst, had an undertone of despair almost; yeah, sorry about that! I don't know what hit me, just decided to write it like that. Next chapter will be long, probably the longest chapter I've ever written because there will be no epilogue for this story. I'll try to wind it up, throw some fluff in for those who want it, cross the T's, dot the I's, you know, last chapter things. And for any of you who like Peter Pan, go read the new story I started on him, it'll be my focus when this is done! Here's the link for you if you're too lazy to go click on it: !!) 


	15. Fifteen

They walked down the river hand in hand. She was humming a song while he snuck glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Er - yeah, so, what are you doing after we're finished school?" he asked.

"I'm not really sure," she mused. "I'll go to college but I'm not sure where I'll stay or anything."

"Mmm." She could tell he was nervous but could see no reason for it. "Can I, uh, ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course," she said. They stopped walking and he turned to face her, grabbing her hands.

He cleared his throat. "Well, um, see - it's like this: I love you a lot. More than anything really. And well, I can't, uh, picture not having you with me and, er, well…" There was a long pause when neither of them said anything. They just waited. "Will you marry me?" The look on her face was priceless. "I know we're young. We're not even legal yet but, uh, we can have a long engagement if you want and -"

She cut him off with a kiss. When she pulled back her eyes were shining and she was biting her lip. "Yes," she breathed. "Yes."

"Wha - what?"

"Yes! I'll marry you!"

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! We're getting married!"

She jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck and he picked her up and hugged her. When he released her, she kissed him. Joggers and bikers went around the kissing couple, some smiling, other grumbling. The world was lost to them for the moment until he pulled away and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, velvet box.

"Will you wear it?" he asked, opening the box to reveal a plain ring.

"Of course I will!"

He slipped it on her finger and she smiled at him then pulled him in for another short kiss and a hug.

"I love you Van Fanel."

"I love you too 'Tomi."

* * *

"Hey Merle," Dilandau said, falling in step beside her as she walked down the hall of their school.

Gulping inaudibly, she turned to him and smiled gently. "Hi. How are you?" Her fingers pried at the edges of her books nervously. She was almost expecting him to spit bitter words had her like before.

"Meh, alright. Kinda stressing for finals though. How about you?"

For a moment, Merle's head spun. Where were the accusations? The yelling? After taking a deep breath, she replied, "Look, Dilly. Um, I really think pretending nothing happened isn't the best thing to do. We don't have to talk about it but -"

"Yeah," he cut her off. "We do. I really, _really_, want to apologize for the other night. I mean, I know it was a huge thing to tell me but I freaked out. And not just a little bit."

"It's alright," she replied, though it wasn't. "It freaked me out too."

"You handled it well though."

By then they had stopped in the middle of the people streaming around them in all directions. Dilandau reached out and ruffled Merle's hair gently. She smiled and grabbed his hand. They stood there holding hands for several moments.

"I'm sorry it happened," she admitted.

"So am I. But there isn't anything we can do about it now. I think we should just be thankful nothing worse happened. No lasting damage," he said, repeating Hitomi's words.

"Yeah, I guess... What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do we stay friends or maybe try for more?" questioned Merle nervously.

He thought for a moment. "I don't know. I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, think now."

With a sigh, Dilandau said, "I am. I'm trying to sort out all these things in my head at once."

"Look at it this way Dilly: there must have been some kind of - _je ne sais quoi_ that made us do it. And not just the alcohol. Some kind of spark, I mean."

"I know. But I don't know if it's the kind of spark that can lead to a relationship like that."

"Friends then?"

Merle's eyes looked up into Dilandau's pale ones and tried to read something in there.

"For now."

There was a pause. Both just looked at each other.

"So, we're okay?" he asked.

"We're okay," she confirmed.

"Good."

Snaking an arm around her shoulders quickly, they continued towards Allen's van, where they were meeting the others. As they walked out together, running past hand in hand came Hitomi, shrieking, and Van, laughing. Smiling at their antics, Merle shook her head.

"C'mon Dilly!" Millerna called from her position on top of the hood of the van. "We want to get to the beach _before_ everyone else, not after!"

In honour of the seniors, the school had decided to put on a small concert at a beach nearby. It would include a band from their school and a bigger one they had booked. Everyone had been looking forward to it since the rumours had started to float around the school.

After almost an hour of driving, they arrived at the beach. Millerna let out a squeal when she saw the ocean. She opened the door of the van, hopped out, kicked off her shoes, and ran to the water. Allen scooped her sandals up off the ground as the rest of them piled out of his vehicle. Hitomi and Merle went around the back and grabbed a cooler they had picked up on the way there. With blankets and drinks, they headed towards the sand.

Millerna was still frolicking in the waves, wearing only a skirt over her bathing suit. Dilandau stripped off his shirt quickly and ran over to her. She screamed as he picked her up and waded out into the water with her.

"No! No, Dilly! Please, let me down! I like this skirt! Dilandau! Nooooo!" Seconds later she came up drenched and sputtering. "Ass!" she yelled as she jumped on him and tried to get him under the water.

Hitomi laughed as she lay back on the blanket, her head resting on her shirt. Merle, Allen, and Van had joined the wrestling match in the water. Dryden layed on his stomach, watching the band playing on a makeshift stage while people played volleyball and swam. When his gaze shifted over onto her, his eyes because puzzled.

"That ring's from Van?" he asked.

Caught off guard, Hitomi opened her eyes quickly. Wearing only one ring, she couldn't play dumb. "Yeah. It is."

"You guys are serious? Like, marriage serious?"

"Er - um, yeah. It's serious."

Dryden propped himself up on one arm and studied her hand more carefully. "How did you know it was what you wanted? I mean, I thought Millerna and I - I thought we would be together for the rest of our lives. I guess not, hey?"

"Well, I don't think you can know **for sure**, that you're meant to be together forever," Hitomi said hesitantly. "I just know that I couldn't picture myself without Van. Ever. And just because you can't picture yourself without someone, doesn't mean that you have to spend forever together as more than friends. You and 'Lerna could easily be friends for the rest of your lives! Or maybe something will happen between you again." She paused for a second while Dryden listened carefully. "Don't listen to me, I'm probably not even making sense. And if I am, then I'm probably wrong!"

"No, you're making a lot of sense," he disagreed.

Rolling onto her stomach, Hitomi rested her hands on her arms and listened to the music.

**__**

Though I've tried to forget

You're all that I am

Take me home

I'm through fighting it

In all my bitterness

I ignored

All that's real and true

All I need is you

As she thought about how the lyrics reminded her of Van, he came up behind her, picked her up, ran over to the water and dumped her in it.

"Van, you ass!"

* * *

The sun was sinking down into the water yet all seven of them were still there. Merle and Dryden were running around and jumping in the water while Millerna and Allen wandered down the beach. Dilandau was laying back on the blanket, humming a tune and letting sand run through his fingers while Hitomi and Van talked quietly beside him. Van fingers traced lightly up and down Hitomi's back and she shivered.

"Hey," Allen called as they approached the blanket while Merle came up behind Millerna and hugged her. "Anyone else want to spend the night here?" he asked over her screams.

"That'd be fun," Dryden said, coming up behind Allen and shaking his head a bit before grabbing a towel.

"I'm game."

After a group census, it was decided they would stay the night, sleep on the beach, then drive back to the city by midday. Within minutes they had blankets out of the van and Dilandau and Merle were unsuccessfully attempting to create a fire.

Hitomi and Van took off for a walk down the beach as Allen tried to help with the fire. Within minutes, they had one going. Dryden and Millerna drive into the parking lot in Allen's car, bringing food they had purchased at the closest grocery store.

"Yay! We're saved!" Merle yelled as she ran to the van and started grabbing food and drinks out of it.

* * *

The seven of them were laying back on the sand, wrapped in numerous blankets, looking up at the stars.

"So what are you guys doing after school?" Allen asked.

"I think I'm gonna go to Europe for a little while," Merle said hesitantly. "But I still have to sort a lot of stuff out."

Van sighed, "Well, I think I'm moving out."

"Me too," echoed Hitomi.

"Together?" Dilandau questioned.

After some delay, Hitomi replied, "Yes."

"Hmm," was all Dilandau said. "I think I'm just gonna be staying at home and heading to uni. Nothing too special."

"Yeah, I think that's all I'll be doing too," murmured Millerna. She moved a little closer to Allen for warmth and he wrapped his arms around her.

Showing nothing, Dryden looked at them and kept the conversation going. "Maybe I'll work for a while, because my parents aren't going to be paying for my education. And I want to go to university because there isn't much you can do without it anymore."

There was silence as they all dropped into their thoughts. Hitomi was curled up in Van's arms, sleeping with one hand on his chest. He stroked her hair lightly and looked at the ring on her finger. When he looked up, Dilandau was watching them.

"You guys are gonna have a great life together, man," he said.

Van grinned lopsidedly. "Naw, we all are. Just 'cause we won't be in school together doesn't mean this is all over. It's just beginning, I think."

A grin that rivalled Van's, appeared on his friend's face. "Yeah, it's just beginning."

* * *

The next morning, they drifted into school in pairs or by themselves, all of them pale with puffy eyes. They had stayed up late the night before talking on the beach and they had risen early to get into town and get ready for another school day.

Girls were running down the halls, clutching each other and crying. Van and Hitomi walked into school as some girl tackled her boyfriend and squealed, "I can't believe we're almost done! It can't have been four years already!" and then breaking into sobs as her boyfriend patted her back.

"You're not gonna expect that of me, are you?" Van asked, laughing.

"No," teased Hitomi, "You're gonna be the one that's crying and jumping on me."

They laughed as they walked to the locker they shared and dropped their books in it. Dilandau came up behind them and scooped Hitomi up and over his shoulder. She shrieked as he walked off towards the cafeteria. Teachers just smiled at the antics of the senior students, thinking that they should enjoy their last few days at school.

Hitomi, Dilandau, and Van had just joined the rest of them when the intercom buzzed. "Can all grade twelve students please exit the building and move to the front law. Grade twelve students to the front lawn please."

Still carrying Hitomi, Dilandau pranced towards the doorway, bumping his cargo up and down. There were yells and threats from Hitomi but they were all ignored as he half set, half dropped her onto the front lawn. Dryden helped her up and she sent a mock glare in Dilandau's direction.

A photographer came bustling over. "Get together, get together. Into a big group now. C'mon children."

There was some laughter and protests at that comment. The photographer continued to explain the picture taking process. They would stand in a group and were allowed to pose however was wanted as long as it "was not vulgar or improper."

After several minutes of shuffling around to get together, the seven of them had formed a group. Allen stood on the edge with his arm around Millerna. She smiled up at him as she grasped one of Dryden's hands. His other hand was helping Dilandau support Merle as she held on around his neck, smiling. One of Hitomi's hands was linked through Dilandau's arm and Van had both of his wrapped around her waist.

Once the photographer had set all his things up on the roof, he yelled down for them to smile. There were happy yells from several people as they posed.

Van leaned down to Hitomi's ear and whispered, "I love you, 'Tomi."

"I love you too, Mr. Fanel," she replied.

He kissed her gently as the flash of the camera went off, the image forever branded on the pages of the yearbook that would fade as the love and friendship from that year lived on forever.

(A/N: Wow... I can't believe I'm finally done. Sorry for the delay, I had half of this chapter typed out and my computer deleted it. But it's all good, this cut was better than the last one. I had a lot of trouble ending the whole thing and I know it sounds kinda cheesy and gay but I was like, hey, it's a love story. Thanks for all the support, keep Reviewing until this story is nothing more than words and Reviews! Go check out some more stories and look out for me!)


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